War of Vampire and Vampire Hunters
by Restless Dreaming Spirit
Summary: -Companions of the Night by VVV- Kerry is desperate to find Michel, almost too desperate & gets caught in between a war between vampire hunters & vampires. Which side is she truly on? Who will believe her? How far will Michel go for her? !BEING REVISED!
1. A Three Year Anniversary

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

A/N IMPORTANT: I am revising this story. I have decided to delete all the chapters but I am in the process of a wonderful revising. If you haven't read my story, I hope you enjoy the new revised edition; if you have, you're welcome to read it again. Things will be changed. And I'm hoping it will be a better read. ENJOY :-)

Chapter 1: A Three Year Anniversary

Kerry sighed to herself while she looked out the window on this rainy afternoon. She thought about Michel as she pulled closer his leather jacket. Tears sprang from her eyes. Everything had gone so wrong. She had an ordinary life. She was an ordinary girl. That was, until three years ago today.

She loved him.

She missed him.

She would do anything to find him.

That's why she decided three months ago to go into vampire hunting. She sort of had it planned out. They had yet to come across a vampire. But when they did, she would be ready, she hoped.

She had deceived the leader of the vampire group she stumbled upon when looking for a group to join. She of course, lied about why she wanted to become a vampire hunter. She believed to have mentioned something about revenge. Not sure. A wonderful lie just oozed out of her mouth. She's horrible at lying, but just this once, she got a break, and the leader dude, luckily, believed her. It's almost as if fate was going to play out. I mean, it was pure luck she found a group. It's not exactly in your daily classified ads:

**VAMPIRE HUNTER WANTED TO JOIN VAMPIRE HUNTER GROUP. LET'S GO GET 'EM**

Would it say something like that? 'Let's go get 'em?' Alarm all the vampires that way…

But anyways, so far so good for Kerry. Things were okee-dokee at the moment. So fate was pretty much playing out for her.

Almost.

Later that night, around midnight, she went out to the park where she was supposed to meet the vampire group. Arriving ten minutes late, she took her sweet time walking the dark passage with few streetlamps. The sidewalk was damp from the long rain, but at least it wasn't raining now, thankfully. She pulled the jacket she was wearing closer to herself. It was _his_ jacket. She could still almost smell his scent on it. She could still see those piercing cold, blue eyes looking right through her.

Is it at all hypocritical to be wearing a vampires jacket _while _vampire hunting?

She got up to the group surprised to see that they had someone down on the ground. One of the hunters was wielding a bat. Her guess was that they were beating him. Of course they were. They're cold-hearted like that. As her eyes adjusted to the lighting, she could see that it wasn't Michel. Of course, that just wasn't her kind of luck nowadays. She had gotten this far, why should the universe do her anymore favors? "Kerry!" she heard one of them call out, "You're late!"

She looked down at the vampire, keeping her distance. His expression was emotionless. He showed no signs of fear or pain. She looked back up at the group, "I'm here, aren't I?" her voice had a harshness in it.

She put on an act, afraid of letting her guard down only a little. That was another little gift the universe gave her, not that she could ever pull it off with vampires, but her act. Though, her heart pounded the whole time and she was afraid she would slip eventually, she tried and was doing a good job of not showing her fear and sweating on the inside. That sounds kind of gross, 'sweating on the inside.'

One of the men gave her a piercing stare and she just turned away. She looked back down at the vampire again, "So where did you find him?" she asked detached.

The leader replied with pride, "Finally tracked the bastard down."

"Hm…Was he the one you had been tracking for 6 months?"

"Yep, that's the one," he answered.

She nodded as she held her hand out in front of another guy. He handed her a gun equipped with silver bullets. She still hated guns. But, it was all part of the act.

The vampire was dragged into the dark navy blue van, almost dark enough just to be said that it was black, especially in this lighting. It had been parked on the curb less then half a mile away. As they walked to the van, she contemplated what her next move would be. It certainly wouldn't be what those stupid vampire hunters had planned. She wondered if it was going to be deja vo again from back at the laundry mat exactly three years ago.

She hopped into the back with two others. The other two were up front. Only they were in seats. Back here, it was just floor and a bench up against the right side of the van. The two others took up that seat. She sat on the floor, closest to the vampire. She looked behind herself to the two others loading their guns. She looked back over at the vampire. He was shoved into the back corner, tied up, of course. She wasn't in his reach. She looked at him in his eyes. She tried to send a message to him through her eyes. His eyes pierced back at her. His eyes flickered with confusion, but immediately changed back to being emotionless. He looked at her, gauging her to give him something at what she was trying to say; whether she was just a foolish vampire hunter…or maybe something more.

He had listened to her heartbeats earlier. He noticed when she was lying, and she had lied quite a bit. He could taste her fear as her heartbeat pounded as she spoke. But, when she looked at him, she was calm and her heartbeat slowed, just like now. Was it satisfaction? Or was it something else?

One of the men up front loaded his gun and she jumped. The two men in the back mumbled to themselves. The leader, who was the one driving, called out, "Kerry?"

She jumped a little. She was in a jumpy mood. "Yes?" she replied a little weak.

"You ready for this?"

She still looked at the vampire, and he returned the stare, "I hope so."

"Well, this is going to be an experience you'll never forget. There's nothing better, then the feeling of watching evil die in the pure light of God."

She jerked her head up, "You mean…" she whispered only loud enough for the vampire to hear, and that was because of his extremely good hearing. She spoke up, "You mean, the sunlight?"

"Yep."

She could hear in his voice that he was grinning a wide grin, and he was. She cringed. No one noticed but the vampire. He studied her closely. She never diverted eye contact from him. She was unafraid of him. She was afraid of all that was going on around her, but she was most certainly not afraid of him Could he sense that? She thought he could because of her heartbeats that were now slow and steady. She thought that that confused him.

It made him curious.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	2. Auto Store Break Down

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

A/N IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ NOTE FROM FIRST CHAPTER

Chapter 2: Auto Store Break Down

After 20 minutes, they came to a halt. The two got out of the back, asking if Kerry could handle the vampire for a few moments. She nodded as she pointed her gun at the vampire.

She turned to see if they had walked out, half expecting to be lunged at, but he didn't. He sat there silently in his dark corner. "I'm looking for someone," she said softly. For the first time, she avoided eye contact with him and her heart began to pound. She wanted to say everything she could before it was too late. "I have no intention of killing you, let alone hurt you." she stated calmly as possible.

He came out with a smart remark that reminded her too much of Michel, "Tell that to them."

Sarcasm. Not only were vampire built up with lies, but sarcasm. She guessed she could see why. They've practically seen it all, if not all of it.

Her eyes met his, "I'm serious."

She got that last line out just as the four men appeared back. "Handled everything okay, Kerry?" one of them asked nonchalantly as they climbed back into the van.

She nodded as she got up and hopped out of the van, getting out of his way. Another man leaned in the van as the man in the van tugged at the vampire. Together, both men grabbed hold of a shoulder. As the man on the ground tugged at him, the man still in the van shoved him; both as violently as possible till gravity came into effect and the vampire fell onto the hard cement, letting a crack sound that was sickening to the stomach ring out. The vampire rolled to his side as the man jumped out of the van. Kerry wondered just how much of that he had felt. She saw liquid come out of his head. If he was any normal human being that would be a concussion and he would be knocked out after a fall like that.

As Kerry turned away, gagging to herself, the other men grabbed the vampire and dragged him on the ground to a building. They entered the back part of the building that looked to be storage. The smell of tires and oil filled Kerry's nose. She scanned the boxes that were labeled, not getting a good look at the writing. But this place was most certainly abandoned, as said by the layer of dust everywhere.

They walked through a door and were now in a main part of a store it looked. The vampire was pushed to the floor and tied to an old nailed down shelf as another man kept a gun to him. Kerry looked around in a daze, almost going in circles. Her heart began to pound. The vampire noticed, of course. He looked up at her. He could see her bewilderment.

_How am I able to pull this off? What was I thinking? _

She backed away and fell backwards on purpose. She sat and looked at the gun she held.

_What the hell was I thinking?_

"You alright?" the leader asked as he pulled out some supplies from a box that he had brought in.

She nodded; avoiding eye contact with them and the four men went around putting crosses up and throwing garlic everywhere. She looked at the vampire seeing the slight smile on his face. It was probably because all they were doing didn't affect him. She would know. She still remembered when it looked like Ethan was going to burst out laughing when Marsala held a cross over him.

She saw an opening chance, and went towards the vampire."Tell me how I can help you." she said quietly and desperately.

He took into account that she just may be for real. "Bring me a sharp knife or anything that cuts rope," his voice was sure and so unemotional. For the lack of any other words, sterile would suit his tone.

She nodded and got up; walking into the storage area, hoping to find that there was a knife just lying around.

She began to shuffle through boxes. Three to five minutes later, she found a box that was labeled 'Office Supplies'. She ripped it open, practically dumping its contents all over the floor. That's when a letter opener caught her eye. She bent down and snatched it. She stuck the letter opener in her pants pocket. Then she wondered back out the door.

"Where'd you go?" one of the men asked rather coldly.

She shrugged and said very coolly, "Bathroom."

He just nodded a little as he picked up a bat and headed towards the vampire. She couldn't hear what he was mumbling to the vampire, but he obviously refused and just stared back at him. That's when he lashed out on the vampire with the bat. Kerry jerked her head away, not wanting to watch.

"Now," he yelled, "tell me where all you other damn vampires are!"

How typical. But it was then she realized, as the vampire spit in his face that she was really in over her head. That's when she got a deadly idea that wouldn't end well. What if she shot the hunters? There were only four of them…but surely they would take her down in a heartbeat. She glanced down at her gun that she was holding and then back up. "That's enough!" she yelled, running over to the man who was now kicking him.

She latched onto his arms and yanked on them. He just shook her off. "She's right," another guy said, "Quite it Harry."

Of course she knew their names, she just chose not to. So 'the guy who was beating on the vampire, whom is supposedly called Harry' reluctantly moved away, glaring at Kerry.

An hour passed by. Kerry sat up on the floor, leaning against the wall. She still had that letter opener. They were all busy interrogating the vampire. Of course he wasn't going to give them any information. And then that threat with the sun. It was all a headache to her. She stood up. "I'm going to get some air," she informed as she walked through the door that lead to the storage room.

She stepped outside, seeing her breathe in the air. She leaned against a brick wall as she let out an annoyed groan. "God help me. What have I gotten myself into?"

"What have you gotten yourself into?" a man's voice asked, closer than comfort.

She jumped a little, turning to the voice. Before she could say anything back, he pushed up against the wall. "Tell me _hunter_, what have you gotten yourself into?"

Her breath got caught in her throat, but then she calmed herself. He was a vampire. He could get the other vampire out of that room and then maybe, if he doesn't eat her, he could help her. "We have to get the other vampire out there," she said desperately, pulled away and towards the door.

For his amusement, he let her go through the door. He followed behind her slowly. She walked up to the door, hearing someone scream out in pain. The vampire behind her smirked. Her palm rested on the door as her heart began to pound; but not from fear, but excitement. There was defiantly more than one vampire behind this door; she could sense it. "There's one more in the back," she heard an unfamiliar voice.

"I know," she heard a semi-familiar voice.

Almost too familiar.

The vampire behind her then began to walk towards her. He was going to push her out into the next room.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	3. Vampire Hunter’s Kerry? !

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 3: Vampire Hunter's Kerry?!

As the vampire pushed Kerry through the door, she collided with another vampire. He latched onto her, swinging her into the main part of the room. No, the vampire who latched onto her wasn't Michel. She could feel his hands wonder, looking for weapons. She had a gun and a pathetic letter opener, which he found. After unloading the gun, he let them drop to the floor, making a clank sound. He then gave an evil grin that she read as 'I'm gonna kill you now.'

_Wonderful._ –sarcasm people-

"Don't touch her," she heard a very familiar voice yell.

The voice snapped her away from the other vampire's greedy grin. She looked to find the source of the voice, scanning the room, not having any luck. But as the vampire who had hold of her began to back off, Michel was already in her face. He pushed her hard against the wall and cornered her. "Vampire hunter's, Kerry?!" Michel exclaimed stunned.

She was bewildered to see him with her jaw now dropped. At the moment, she could only stare at him, because Michel was in fact standing right in front of her.

"What the hell Kerry? You were the last person I'd expect…" he let himself trail off as he scanned her face for something.

She wasn't about to struggle, even as he bent over her neck as if it were a last resort. "Wait," she cried out, finally getting her voice back and pulling herself out of the daze she was in.

He pulled back and looked at her. She blinked.

"Well, Kerry, I'm waiting. Don't think I exactly have as much patience as before."

She tried to speak, but only a squeak came out. Panicking as he bent back over her neck, she pulled forward. He wasn't restraining her or using much force, thankfully. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close with his mouth next to her throat. She felt his breath light on her throat with his hands firmly on her shoulders. "What are you doing, Kerry?" his voice was soft.

He didn't move his position.

"I'm sorry," she said as she squeezed him tighter, "I didn't know how else to find you. I wanted to find you so bad, but I didn't know how else to…" she trailed off with not know what else to say.

"Well, that's pretty damn extreme, Kerry," he practically snapped as he lifted his head and shoved her back.

She looked at him in his eyes, those piercing blue eyes. She turned away as he studied her.

"That's my damn jacket," he said, realizing that she had it on and had kept it after all these years.

"So what if she like your damn jacket," she mumbled as he walked away.

He turned to look at her again, annoyed, he said, "I didn't ask if you liked it. I just said that you have it." Michel turned away from her and commanded, "Keep the leader alive."

"What about her?" another vampire asked, nodding towards her.

Kerry shrank against the wall.

"Her?" Michel asked as he glanced her way and then back, "She's an idiot."

"Hey!" she said defensively, pushing herself off the wall now.

"Kerry, you are! You're lucky I was here or you would have been killed!" He was being serious and then mumbled, "Idiot..."

She just looked at him, wanting to pout or stamp her foot on the ground…or argue with Michel that he kept calling her an idiot. Just like old times, eh? Nothing like a good old argument with Michel to bring back those good sweet memories.

"Let's go," Michel commanded like he was the leader or something. Maybe he was.

Something told her that it wasn't intended for her, and it wasn't. "Wait! Michel!" she hollered as she ran up to him.

He turned around and grabbed her wrist, icy by the touch, "No!" his voice was harsh, "If I catch around here like this again Kerry…You better not come around…" he threw her wrist back at her.

"Now wait a second!" she yelled, "I didn't do this for freaking three months to finally see you and you tell me to fuck off!"

He turned around quickly, grabbing her wrist now with more force that it hurt, making her wince. His voice was sharp and forceful, "First of all, I didn't tell you to fuck off. Second, you were with vampire hunters that have been stalking and killing us one by one. And third," his voice managed to get soft and a whole lot calmer, "you never told me that you were only here for three months."

"Hardly even that…" she said as she yanked her wrist away.

He let it slip away though with his face masked as if in deep thought. He could have held on if he had wanted too. "What the hell were you thinking?" he demanded softly.

"Well, apparently irrational."

"Damn right," his voice went back to being sharp, his facial features growing cold.

"Please don't leave me again." she begged as he began to walk away and she followed him outside.

He stopped again, not facing her though.

"I left you. It was a mistake. Please don't make my mistake."

She was desperate and her heart was pounding. She knew he could hear it, which is why, when he turned to look at her, it was an anxious look. He tilted his head down as the three vampires and leader waited for Michel. Michel reached out and grabbed her hand, not her wrist, and pulled her forward. "Go around to the backseat and sit next to the window, not the middle."

She nodded as he released her hand. Her heart was pounding. His voice was somewhat gentle too. That didn't help with her pounding heart. She got in and closed the door. Next thing she knew, Michel was by her and he had hold of the leader. "So Kerry," he asked calmly, "What have you been up to lately…besides hunting down my kind?" he looked at her when he was done. He continued when he caught her eye, "Not spreading our secrets, have you?" he was now grinning.

Kerry just shook her head, "No, I never told anyone."

"Good," he said cheerfully, "I wouldn't want to be nervous of your intentions."

He had used that line before, right before she left to go and find Marsala. Though, he had followed her as well. "Since when? If I can recall, we left on good terms."

"Maybe on your part."

"Yeah, I got to live and you had to find blood elsewhere," she said a little more forcefully then she intended.

He winced, "As if I intended…"

"You don't need to play innocent, Michel. You looked the same as you did then when I first figured out you were a vampire. It's all _your_ fault," this time she just let the forcefulness roll off her tongue.

"My fault?" he sounded surprised.

"If it wasn't for you, I'd be asleep right now. I would have gone off to college…" her rant was cut off.

"You're not?"

"No," she said softly.

He squinted his eyes at her, "What's wrong, Kerry?"

He seemed concerned. Was it her heart rate or the years of experience on how he could figure out human emotion?

"Nothing," she said as she turned to the window.

"You liar," he said in an almost mocking way.

She looked at him from the corner of her eye.

"Go to sleep," he demanded, but not loudly.

"Don't you dare," she said as she turned towards him, "I don't want to go to sleep…just to wake up to find that this was just a dream."

"Ah, how touchy feely of you, Kerry," he put his hands on her head.

She fought and said 'no'.

He smiled, amused at her, "Come on Kerry, you of all people should know that you can't get out of my grasp."

"And you say I'm a nuisance."

"Ha!" he pulled her in and she stopped struggling. He kissed her forehead and laughed again. "Go to sleep Kerry. I promise: I'll be here when you wake up."

"Vampire lie," she said simply as she leaned her head on his shoulder, which surprised him for a moment.

"You misjudge too fast, Kerry."

She laughed for the first time she had seen him in three years. She got tired of fighting it and fell asleep.

* * *

"Who is she, Michel?" a guy asked up front. He was the one who was driving.

"She is…somebody from my past," he replied after hesitating, looking down at Kerry's sleeping form.

"Someone we can trust?" another guy asked.

Michel thought for a moment, putting his arm around Kerry, "I would think," he said nonchalantly.

"How long ago from your past, Michel?" the guy driving asked anxiously.

Michel glanced at the back of his head, "Three years ago."

"Three years ago you had sunburns," the other guy pointed out.

"Yes," Michel started slowly. "Three years ago I almost died in that godforsaken sun." he paused, "If it wasn't for her."

The guy turned around, "Do not tell me she was involved with Marasla."

Michel's eyes just pierced into his, not giving him an answer.

He sighed, turning back around, "She was, wasn't she," he stated more than questioned, almost bitterly.

"Pure accidental," Michel said smoothly, almost sorrowfully.

"You let her go!" he snapped.

"Now, Adam," Michel cooed calmly, "I let her go because she saved my life."

"You let her live with our secrets! She could have blabbed to anyone! I mean Jesus Christ! She was with hunters just now!"

"I know," Michel stated calmly, "And I will see to it that I will know that she hasn't said anything to anyone. I will take care of it." Michel paused, letting silence roll in. "Why so quiet, Joey?"

Joey was seated in the middle in between Adam and Nate, Nate being the driver. Joey was the one that had been grabbed by the hunters that they had just killed, except for the leader, and well, Kerry.

Joey turned his head slightly to look back at Michel and Kerry, "I just am," he said blandly.

"Tell me," Michel asked curiously, "How did she act with the hunters?"

"She never touched me," he mumbled, turning forward again.

"I would except that. She's Kerry," Michel gave a small insincere laugh while remembering how Kerry was during their small time together.

"She seemed very…detached from it all," and that was the last thing Joey said.

The leader of the group of hunters turned his head a little towards Kerry. Michel had his arm tightly around his, but he was ignoring him. The leader wondered just how much of this was true. She had never said that she was in the company of a vampire before. It seems she forgot to mention a lot of things about vampires that she knew about. But still, he thought it was an act on her part.

She was tricking the vampires.

She was doing a hell of a good job.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	4. Don’t Lie to Me Now, Kerry

Chapter 4: Don't Lie to Me Now, Kerry

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 4: Don't Lie to Me Now, Kerry

Kerry slowly awoke. She realized she still had her head on Michel's shoulder, and he had his arm around her. Just the thought of him made her heart pound.

He looked down at her, "You're awake. You alright?"

She nodded as she pulled herself up and he dropped his arm that was around her and put it back to his side.

"How long have she been asleep?"

"Ah…about an hour." She looked outside to see the pitch black, deserted road.

"We're almost there," Michel said after a moment of silence.

"Almost where?" she asked as she tried to stretch in limited space.

"You'll see," he sort of answered while watching her.

"Great answer," she mimicked the cheerfulness that came out of him at times, "I just _love_ how descriptive you are."

He gave her a sharp look while she just smiled sweetly at him. Those eyes looking at her, watching her; they were eerie, yet she loved them. It's those same eyes that haunted her in her sleep since she laid eyes on them.

Five minutes later, they turned into a neighborhood. They circled the neighborhood completely till the houses were familiar again. They finally stopped on the street, not in the driveway. Nate unlocked the doors. Immediately, the leader grabbed the door handle, but the door wouldn't open. Michel grabbed a handful of his jacket and shoved him. His head hit the window hard. Kerry jumped. Michel looked at her, no emotion now showing in his facial expression. She wondered if he would have done that to her. She slowly backed up against the door and looked at him.

"Child-lock doors," he said simply, unemotional, looking at her carefully.

The three upfront got out. Nate opened Kerry's door. She looked at Michel and he nodded for her to go on out. The one riding shot gun, which was Adam, opened Michel's door, helping him out by grabbing the leader. Joey walked away from them, heading up to the house, disappearing through the front door. Nate placed his hands firmly on Kerry's shoulders when she got out, not letting her move an inch.

When Michel was out, he called over, "Kerry, come with me. Nate, let her go."

Nate obeyed.

"Someone take him," Michel said, sounding annoyed and making the leader just sounding like a burden of pure annoyance, which he was to them.

Adam grabbed the leader once more as Nate made his way around the car.

"Kerry, get over here," Michel practically ordered her, but she couldn't tell his emotions. She hated when she couldn't read his voice or expressions.

She caught up to him. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it. He let up a moment later and pulled her forward.

They walked into the house, the others not too far behind. They walked straight into the living room, passing the stairs which the others took, pushing the leader up forcefully. As they passed the stairs, Kerry turned back to stare at the stairs and see how the leader was trying to fight, but was, of course, having no luck.

Kerry stumbled on a rug, having to turn forward. It didn't seem like Michel noticed as he continued to lead her to a couch. He sat down, dragging Kerry down with him. She stumbled yet again right onto the seat next to Michel, thanking God that she didn't fall on his lap. Not that that would be an entirely bad thing.

He faced her, "Now Kerry," his voice was stern, "don't lie to me. I don't think you would and I certainly would hope that you wouldn't."

"I'm not going to lie to you, Michel," Kerry replied to him seriously, trying to get the image of her sitting on his lap out of her head.

"Good. Tell me everything you told the hunters."

_I want a pony…and a pair of roller skates…and a Teddy bear…and wait what?_

She was startled. It took her right out of her thoughts and right into being serious again, "You think I told them something?"

"You tell me, Kerry," his voice was the same now, unchanging.

"I would never!" she said defensively.

"Alright. No need to get defensive."

She turned away from him.

"Kerry, what's wrong?" he sounded concerned again, like before.

"Why keep asking me that? I'm fine." she persisted.

"Because I can tell. I'm good at telling if something is wrong. There is something definitely wrong," he paused, "Why did you want to find me?"

She jumped back, "I…why keep pushing with the questions, Michel? I'm here, aren't I?" she snapped at him.

He looked at her coolly, "Why though? You are here. Why?"

"Because Michel! Can you possibly be that blind?"

"Enlighten me," he said brightly. At least he changed his mood.

"I wanted to see you," she finally admitted to him…as if he couldn't see that for himself.

"And you couldn't be smart enough to find another way to do that?" Michel questioned.

"What's the big deal? You caught them and killed them, didn't you?"

He was startled, "Kerry, it _is_ a big deal! Especially the one set of vampire hunters you chose! Do you realize how many they have killed? How many they tortured with the sun?!"

She was shocked. He seemed to go into a moment of hysteria. She looked down, "I didn't do my research, okay? I probably couldn't even tell you their names! I didn't exactly memorize their names because I was going to be with them briefly. Just until I found a vampire..." she trailed off.

"Well, you did," he said now grinning.

If it was anyone who was an emotional roller coaster, it was him. He showed the emotions he wanted to show. He only did it probably to throw her off.

"I'm glad you were there. I'm glad you came when you did." she said softy, avoiding eye contact.

"Of course you are. If I hadn't you would have been killed by whatever vampires came to come and get Joey."

"Joey?" she echoed with question.

"Yea, Joey. The one you guys had caught," he clarified.

"Oh. Right. I had asked him how I could help. He's the one who asked me to find something sharp that could cut rope."

"He knew we were coming. He didn't need to send you back there," Michel said, slightly confused why Joey would do that.

"Well, I found a letter opener…not much good," she mumbled. She made her voice clearer, "But it was an hour before I went back there again…I felt like…" she started. Michel watched her as she lowered her head in thought, "I was in over my head. I didn't know what to do next. So I went outside to get some air…and that's when I ran into a vampire. He pushed me right through the door and into the vampire that was about to come through the door to come and get me," she paused, "But...he wasn't in the car with us," she stated with confusion.

Michel nodded, "I know. He was there to clean up for us."

"Oh…" Kerry said. That's all she could think of to say.

"The real question though, is why Joey sent you back there the first time when he knew we were coming." Michel repeated once again. "Joey?" Michel called out after Kerry just shrugged her shoulders.

That's when Joey stepped out from behind a wall not too far from them. He had been there the whole time just listening to them. It wasn't that he was intentionally listening to them at first. He was just casually leaning up against the wall, sipping on a cup of blood. The bastard hunters caught him when he was hunting. If he was going to be around humans, like that little human girl Michel brought along with him, he was going to need something to hold him over before he can go out hunting again. Not wanting to head upstairs where the action was just yet, he had continued to stand there just sipping his meal as if it were tea. But when he heard a human heartbeat and a vampire's heartbeat, he couldn't help but stick around and see what this human girl had to say, and what Michel had to say. Of course, he knew that Michel knew he was there, but he obviously didn't care.

"I didn't want her to get killed right away. She was obviously trying to help. She had told me that she was looking for someone. I guess that would be you. If you hadn't recognized her, I would have told whoever came to wait. I would hear her out," Joey explained. He had to admit, the look in her eyes, her bewilderment, it was something that made her strangely different.

"Seriously?" she asked shocked.

"Well, you did say that you were serious, so yes."

She looked down at the floor.

"So Michel, how can you be so sure? Is this truly the girl that you let live with our secrets?" Joey asked.

"Yes, she's the one," Michel said coolly.

"How do you know that she didn't tell them anything?"

Kerry snorted, "Obviously not. They were the ones who were putting up crosses and throwing garlic cloves everywhere and using silver. The only thing they got right was the sun."

He looked at her and snapped at her, "And what about our heartbeats and the times we wake up and the times we have to go to sleep?"

Her face become blank as she looked at him, "Now why would I tell them that?"

"You tell me," he was being stern.

"I thought Michel just asked me this question. And since you had been there all along…" she trailed off.

"Answer it!" he yelled with sharp venom. He had to make sure. They could not afford betrayal that was happening right under their very noses.

"Alright!" she snapped, "No, I didn't. The only reason I was there was to find a vampire and ask if Michel was still around and if they knew what I was talking about, hopefully tell me where he was or take me to go see him."

"That's not the only reason!" Joey yelled. There had to be something else, he thought. She's a good actress, to the point that the line gets blurred on whose side she was truly on. He had to make the line clear.

She jumped again, "Then you tell me the other reason, since apparently I don't know!" she yelled, halfway standing up.

Joey lunged at her. The next thing she knew, his lips were on her throat. He was practically on top of her. Before he sunk his teeth into her, Michel grabbed him and threw him off.

"Don't touch her," he ordered sternly, not looking at him, but looking at her, who was shaking and practically white as a sheet.

He held out his hand and she grabbed it. He pulled her up and then pulled her forward. Joey was behind them, keeping his distance though. The protection Michel had just enforced surprised him. It was obvious that she wasn't quickly disposable to Michel. Would that lead to problems?

They walked up the stairs. At that point Kerry heard the leader scream. She jumped and almost lost her footing on the stairs. Michel's grasp became even tighter, preventing her from falling.

They walked into a room where Nate and Adam were at.

"Adam," Michel asked, "has he said anything? Or is he still playing mute?"

"Still playing mute," he replied as he lifted the knife at him again and scratched it down his arm. The way he did it made it seem like what he was doing was the most normal thing in the world. He showed very little expression, if any at all.

The leader groaned in pain, rolling his head to the side. He was of course, restrained with his wrists bound and above his head. The blood trickled downwards from his arm. All Kerry could see was red and she screamed out of horror seeing torture going on. She jumped and turned around, covering her eyes.

Michel walked up from behind her, "You can leave this room in a moment, Kerry, I promise."

"Kerry…" she heard the leader say in a very weak whisper, but still loud enough for her to hear.

She slowly turned around and Michel turned with her, so he was still behind her. He put his arms around her shoulders and leaned into her.

"Kerry, you must destroy them…You must take them out. Use the tools we gave you…save yourself…" he pleaded as he looked at her weakly. She just stood there and stared at him.

She could feel Michel's grasp around her get tighter. Was it a sign of protection or was it afraid of betrayal like last time?

"What tools, Kerry?" Michel asked with no emotion in his voice.

He leaned his head down and was up against her ear, right next to her neck. She shivered. He looked at her as she looked at the leader and then down at the floor.

"Tell me, Kerry," he said as his grasp around her got tighter.

She felt lightheaded because he was squeezing her so hard and from the torture that was going on that was making her feel sick. She then passed out, not meaning too.

When she woke up, her hands had been tied and were now placed above her head. She wasn't too far from the leader. They were both against the wall. Michel came over, holding a knife to her. He never looked so dangerous before.

"Tell me Kerry, what was he talking about?"

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	5. Do You Trust Me?

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 5: Do You Trust Me?

The dangerous look in Michel's eyes watched Kerry as he brought the ordinary kitchen knife to her arm. She closed her eyes tightly and began to shake her head. She could feel the cold metal on her arm. As Michel added pressure to the knife, but not enough to draw blood, she jerked her head to look at Michel, wide-eyed. His eyes and face were empty. He exerted more pressure on the knife, making a faint scratch, as if torturing her with slowness. She tried to jerk her arm away, but it was held tightly in place by ropes. She whimpered, wanting to cower in a corner.

"Michel, wait…" she said weakly in a squeak.

He just looked at her. His stare was icy. Joey was watching from behind, leaning against the wall. He was dead set on watching her as she quivered under a knife Michel held over her. He had barely scratched her.

"Make her talk," Joey demanded dangerously.

_About what?! _

Michel glanced at him for a brief moment. When he turned back to Kerry, he noticed that she had bent her knees and was straining her arms as she did. She looked ready to faint. As the leader not too far from her yelled out in pain, she tried to move away, but with no avail. The brim of her eyes filled with tears as panic filled her features. She looked around her surroundings frantically, but her eyes landed and stopped at Michel's, who was watching her carefully.

"Don't be a puss, Michel," Joey demanded, half disgusted.

"Shut-up!" Michel snapped, taking the knife off her arm and waving it towards Joey.

Joey went silent as Michel turned to look at Kerry again. She looked taken aback. He grasped her arm, firmly but gently. Either way, Kerry whimpered and tried to back herself away from him.

"Don't…" she whispered.

He studied her, looking into her eyes, as a few tears made it down her face.

He finally sighed and looked at her, as if defeated by a mere human girl, "Kerry, I want to trust you, but don't know if I can."

"You _can_ trust me," she said with more tears in her eyes. She looked up, trying not to let those tears fall. "Please don't hurt me," she practically begged.

He looked at her for a long moment. "You need to tell me everything you told them. I mean everything, Kerry. It doesn't have to be just about us, but you too. You understand?"

She nodded. He lifted the knife and cut the ropes on her hands. Her hands fell to her side like dead weight, the blood rushing back into her arms.

"You sure you can trust her?" Nate asked cautiously.

"I want to trust her," Michel said.

He grabbed Kerry's hand as he tossed the knife on the ground. He pulled her forward and out of the room, past Joey's lethal glare.

They walked into another room. It looked to be the master bedroom. He pushed her on the bed. She glanced at a clock that was next to the bed as he turned on a lamp. It was 3:35 in the morning. It was with that light that she realized just how pale he was. He was almost too pale from when she remembered.

He sat down next to her, "Can I trust you, Kerry?" he asked her sternly.

She nodded. It was silent for a moment.

"Kerry, do you trust me?" Michel asked.

She jumped at the question, startled. "I umm…yes, I trust you."

"Good," he said as he leaned into her. He pushed her down onto the bed so she was lying down.

"What are you doing," she whispered.

He looked at her in the eyes, searching for something, but then finally said sternly and carefully, "Kerry, I'm going to feed off of you."

Naturally, she panicked, "I thought you said that you wanted to trust me!" she said this as he made way to her throat.

"I did," he breathed, breathing down her neck causing her to get goosebumps, "You said that you trusted me."

"I know I did. I do, unless you do what you are doing now."

"I just thought that this would be easier," he said cheerfully as he pulled up to look at her.

"Easier?" she echoed with question.

"Yeah. If I just saw your memories and thoughts, I would know what happened completely with the vampire hunters; I could read your thoughts so that way I really do know your intentions." He paused for a moment to look at Kerry's expression. She was just giving him a blank stare, "And if all goes well, I can really trust you with no doubts whatsoever."

"Your cheerfulness kills me," she said as she rolled her eyes.

"Careful what you say kills you, Kerry," he said, amused at her.

"Maybe I don't want you to listen to all my private thoughts." she snapped.

"See now, there's the problem, 'private thoughts.' Who knows what's going through that head of yours." His voice was still light and cheerful.

"Maybe I don't want you too!" she snapped again as she jumped up from the bed.

He seemed slightly surprised and looked at her coolly, asking her gently with a slightly concerned tone, "What's wrong Kerry?"

He looked at her carefully and studied her. He hadn't moved from the bed and she stood near the door.

"I don't want you to know…" she said as she backed up through the doorway.

"Kerry…" he warned.

She then began to run down the stairs and out the front door. Michel sighed to himself as he got up and began to walk after her with his vampire swiftness.

With her luck, she ran right into someone who was headed up to the house. It was another vampire, of course.



"Well, well. What do we have we here? Trying to escape are we?" his voice sounded like it was thick with amusement.

Her eyes showed nothing but horror.

He grabbed her arm, "Let's go back inside, shall we?"

She screamed out, "No! Let me go now!"

"Kerry, quit screaming," Michel said in the doorway coolly as he leaned against the doorframe in a nonchalant manner.

She stopped struggling and looked at him. He pulled away from the doorway and made his way towards her and the vampire who had hold of her arm. Michel grabbed Kerry's arm with even more tightness than usual. The other vampire let his grip go.

Smoothly, Michel said, "So good of you to come, Noah,"

Noah nodded and then glanced down at Kerry, "So, is she a hunter as well?"

"I am not!" she yelled stubbornly.

Michel hissed, "Keep your voice down!" He looked at Noah, "I'm still trying to figure that out."

"Michel," she gasped, "How could you even think that?"

"Well, you're the one who ran," he said coldly.

"You're the one who keeps asking what's wrong when nothing is wrong." Kerry ranted annoyed, wanting to flail her arms for emphasis, but she had only one free hand that was smushed too close to Noah. She would probably whack his nose..or chin.

"Something _is_ wrong Kerry," he said to her, now looking at her.

"Yeah, and you were going to get it out of me by feeding off of me? Yeah right!"

"Now, I wasn't trying to get it out of you by doing that, I was trying to get something else out of you…" he thought for a moment as she looked at him blankly. He sighed, as if exasperated, "Besides your blood."

"That's reassuring," she said sarcastically.

He gave her a sharp look as they entered the house. Noah went upstairs, but they remained downstairs.

"What were you thinking? Running away like that Kerry? That was pretty damn stupid!"

"You tried to feed off of me! That's why!"

"And is that the _only_ reason?" he asked looking down at her.

"No," she replied sharply, "If you fed off of me then you would find certain things out that she don't want you to know."

He just looked at her shocked with those blue eyes.

"And those certain things that I'd rather you not know have nothing to do with vampires or endangering your kind."

"Hmmm…" he said after a moment, looking at her carefully, "Your heart didn't seem to tell me that you were lying, more like the truth."

"Why are you shocked at that?" she asked, almost annoyed.

He didn't answer, he just walked away. She crossed her arms over her chest.

She then made a quick decision. She was leaving and she was doing it right now. She walked to the front door and opened it and walked out.

Michel didn't follow.

Michel headed upstairs, as he heard Kerry's heartbeat get softer and more distant. He sighed, knowing that she was walking out the front door. Her heartbeat was calm while she spoke to him. She was not a good liar, he knew that much. Where was she going to go at 4 in the morning anyways? He doubted that she would get far. But if she did, she would be in big trouble.

Not with the vampires, but with the others.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	6. Idiot! Just Tell Me What’s Wrong!

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 6: Idiot! Just Tell Me What's Wrong!

Kerry walked the dark road for about 45 minutes. She stumbled as she went, not being able to see that well in the dark.

_Will they follow me now? It was almost 4 when I left…so it's close to 5. That leaves them two hours. Would they take the risk? Would Michel?_

She found a bus stop, whose next pick up time was 5; at least that's what she read on the sign that had reflectors on it, making it possible to read. So she stood there and waited. Finally the empty street had headlights and then rolled up the bus. The bus was going in the right direction of her apartment. She smiled to herself as she climbed on, empting what little change she had in her pocket. She sat down as the bus went forward, closing the door. She relaxed in the seat as she waited to her stop. It would take longer than an hour since this bus wasn't an express. It makes lots of stops.

The bus stopped one block away from her apartment an hour and thirty minutes later. She got out and began to walk, not really afraid of the darkened street. Halfway through the block, she couldn't help but get the feeling that someone had started to follow her. She kept her head forward though. If someone was following her, they would grab her the moment she looked back to see, right?

But when she entered her apartment building, the feeling just vanished, making her think it was just her own paranoia. She made her way up the stairs and unlocked her door. She stepped in, wondering if she was going to be too tired for her job later on at 8. She figured she should just get some sleep. Yes, she was a 'vampire hunter' yet she had a job at 8 in the morning. But she had never stayed out this late, so it was never a problem. She ran off of few hours of sleep all the time.

She walked into her room, switching the light on. She changed into pjs, tossing her other clothes in the hamper. Her pjs consisted of a too big sweater and mini shorts. She yawned as she walked into her bathroom, switching the light on as she entered. She turned the sink water on, looking in the mirror as she waited for the water to get warm. She couldn't help but notice the bags under her eyes. Maybe all this sleep deprivation wasn't good for her. She looked down at the water to see steam rise from it. She turned the knob a little to make it not so hot. Finally she put her hands under and began to splash warm water on her face. She rubbed her face with her hand for a moment, but finally turned off the water. She turned slightly to grab the towel hanging up on the rack, dabbing her face with it. She slung it back over the bar, turning back towards the mirror. Water didn't wash away the lines under her eyes. She sighed, picking up her toothbrush.

After brushing her teeth, she walked out of the bathroom, turning the light out. She walked back into her room, glancing around before walking to her bed. But that was when a hand went around her waist. No, it's not a prank by her roommate. The reason why is not because her roommate is not a prankster; there just _is_ no roommate. She lives alone.

She tried to scream, but a large hand clamped over her mouth. She was then thrown against the wall. That's when she saw him. He had golden eyes, honey colored hair, and he was cold to the touch. He had to be a vampire. His hand was still over her mouth and he now had control of her hands.

He began to slide his hand away from her mouth, testing her to see if she was going to scream. If he was a vampire, she wasn't. When he decided that she wasn't going to scream, he moved that hand down to her neck, giving her new reasons to scream, but she didn't.

"Please don't…" she whispered, but he went down towards her neck, "It was just a fight okay! I didn't mean to leave him…I just didn't want him to know something about my family, okay?"

He ignored her and she felt his lips against her throat. She felt hot tears coming on as she begged, "Please, I'll go back to Michel and the others if that's what you want, just please don't…"

He hesitated, which was good. "Michel?" he asked confused, "I don't know what you are babbling about. The only reason why I'm here is to kill a vampire hunter." He grinned slightly in the last sentence.

Her heart began to pound, "I'm not a vampire hunter."

He snorted, "Do you know how long I've watched you?"

"That's kinda creepy…" she said distantly, "Shouldn't you be going to sleep in a half hour or something?"

He snorted at her again, "Don't tell me…Well, it _is_ after all a secret and I suppose since I'm going to kill you anyways…I'm a guardian."

"A what?" she looked at him confused.

"A guardian. I protect vampires in the day."

"You felt like a vampire…" she trailed off.

"We have the same vampire traits _except_ we can be in daylight," he explained.

"Oh…I never knew…" she practically whispered

"That's because it's a secret," he said as he put his lips to her throat.

"Kerry?" she heard a voice call out as her front door slammed, "Where are you, you idiot? I—" he stopped himself and ran into Kerry's room.

Just as he punctured her skin, he was thrown off and their eyes met, "You idiot," is all Michel said as he turned to the guardian who looked surprised.

"Michel. I thought she was just rattling off names when she said yours," the guardian said, seeming to be surprised.

"Is that so?" he replied, facing him and not her now. "Kerry," she jumped a little, "Go and close all your curtains and make sure that the sun can't creep through." she nodded and walked out, seeing that her curtains were already closed like that.

The two men were now talking amongst themselves. "She knows?" she heard the guardian yell.

They continued talking and she had just finished closing all the curtains. She looked at the clock. It was 15 minutes to 7. 15 minutes to daylight.

Michel and the guardian came out. "What about you family Kerry," Michel demanded, but sort of gentle.

She just looked at him in his eyes, shocked. She didn't want to tell him. If she told him, she'd have to admit it to herself as well.

Michel walked over and put his arms around her. She stood shocked that he did and a moment later, she put her arms around him as well. The guardian stood and stared.

"Tell me, Kerry. Is that what's wrong? You can tell me," his voice was gentle.

"I want to tell you, but then I'd have to admit it myself…"

"Admit what?" he pulled back and looked at her, "Kerry, what happened. Why didn't you ever start college?"

"I couldn't pay for it," she whispered.

"No help for your father?" he questioned.

"That's the problem…" she said distantly.

Michel's eyes widened.

"There was an accident after graduation…in the summer."

"Kerry…" he said softly.

"I wasn't there! I didn't leave with them! I stayed at Nellie's!" she yelled as she pounded her fists on Michel's chest. She realized she was crying. It may have been one in the few times she did cry over them, "Ian and dad…the car…It was hit…" she felt weak in the knees and knelt and Michel guided her down to the floor. "And if I tell you," she brought her fist hard against his shoulder, he winced a little, "Then I'd have to accept it." She was in his arms crying.

"Oh, Kerry," he said in a soft sigh, "Is that what you were protecting? Is that what you were hiding from me?"

She nodded as she clenched onto his shirt.

He sighed again, "Come on," he said softly as he lifted her, "Let's get you to bed."

She felt comforted in his arms.

He laid her in her bed. "Make me go to sleep, Michel," she whispered as he began to walk away.

He stopped and turned around. He sat on the edge of her bed and put his hands on her head, "Just relax," he told her softly, "Breath in and out slowly and just relax, your body is tense."

She did what he said and the next thing she knew, she had fallen asleep.

Michel looked at her coolly, touching the side of her face. The guardian appeared in the doorway. Michel withdrew his hand from Kerry's face and stood up.

"Where are you going to stay, Michel?" the guardian asked, staring at the human girl who was now soundly asleep.

"Here," Michel said, not sounding the least bit worried.

The guardian raised an eyebrow at him.

"Just make the phone call for me," Michel said, sounding exasperated.

"I will," the guardian said, having a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Michel gave him an icy stare as the guardian turned away from Michel and left the apartment.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	7. Just You and Me

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 7: Just You and Me

Kerry opened her eyes, seeing her clock, reading 3:00 PM. She couldn't believe that she had slept that long. But, then again, that was an 8 hour sleep. She really needed that. She probably needed to sleep longer to try and catch up on all the hours she hasn't gotten lately.

She turned over, only to come face to face with a sleeping man. She jumped up, yelping, falling right out of bed. She made a thump noise. She got up, rubbing her butt that was now a little sore from the fall. She then realized that she recognized that sleeping man, even in the dark.

"Michel," she muttered with slight annoyance, still rubbing her butt.

So does this mean that he trusts her?

_Oh, right the guardian…but still…_

She glanced around the dark room, noting not a hit of sunlight was creeping through. She walked over and turned the ceiling fan light on. It wasn't like it was going to disturb Mr. Dead Guy, now was it? As she sat back down in the bed, she found a note on her night nightstand.

_Kerry,_

_As you have noticed by now, you have noticed right? that I am sleeping over. Don't leave your apartment. Don't open any blinds. I'm sure you're smart enough to figure __**that**__ out. Don't make any phone calls or e-mails. I was kind of planning on waking up, so don't betray me._

_It's just you and me now. That guardian was pissed, so be careful. _

_-Michel _

Kerry put down the note and looked at Michel. How could she _not_ notice that he was there? She sighed as she looked at the sleeping vampire. He wasn't breathing, which was to be expected. She was curious. She put her hand against his chest. Of course there was no heart beat. He wasn't breathing. She stroked his black hair. She loved his hair. She let her fingers run through it for a moment longer, but then she stopped herself. She crawled out of bed, landing on her feet nice and gracefully this time. She walked into her bathroom to take a shower.

She emerged from the shower at 3:30 and was out of the bathroom by 4. 35 minutes till he got up. She walked out still in a towel. Why didn't she think to bring cloths in there anyways? All well. It's not as if he can see her. He's literally dead at the moment.

She had already done her hair and face. She had blow dried her hair and straightened it. She doesn't normally do that. She usually just slept on her hair and let it dry naturally. She thought it looked prettier that way.

She went into the kitchen to get something to eat. She popped strawberry poptarts into the toaster. As she waited, she turned the TV on. She then heard something fall in her room. The room Michel was in. She grabbed a knife from the drawer.

_He couldn't be up yet._ She ran to the room._ He still has 30 minutes. _

She swung the door up open, calling out his name. She pointed the knife forward and did a full circle. All she saw was the sleeping vampire in her bed. She closed the door behind her.

"Is anyone here?" she squeaked.

She checked her closet, then her bathroom, and even under the bed. No one. Was she going crazy?

She sat on the bed, not facing Michel, shaking out of terror. She sat there, glancing at the clock every minute nervously. She heard the TV on in the living room. She laughed to herself nervously, realizing the movie 'Dracula' was on. The TV was on HBO. It was nothing but Halloween movies and specials. After all it _was_ October.

She clenched to the steak knife till her knuckles turned white. Her eyes dodged back and forth, afraid. She could smell faintly burnt strawberry poptarts. She frowned. She was so hungry. The last time she ate was on the way to the park last night. Wow. That felt like forever ago.

She felt arms wrap around her. She screamed, quickly turning and swinging her arm with the knife. He was barely touched by the knife. She gave him a very faint scratch that healed immediately. Before she had time to drop the knife out of shock, Michel had pushed her down onto the bed, both of her wrists in one hand above her head, and a hand lightly on her waist. She gasped as the knife was loosened in her grasp.

"Michel!"

He raised an eyebrow at her.

"I thought…" she trailed off.

He stayed in that position waiting, not letting up on his grasp. His grasp on her wrists were tight.

"I thought I heard something in here about 30 minutes ago…" she explained wide-eyed with fear.

"And you've been here every since?" he asked considerable surprised.

"I was scared…You were defenseless. And I was defenseless because you were..." she let herself relax a little.

He grinned at her amused. His grasp on her wrists loosened. "No one is here Kerry. It's just you and me." He quoted a line he wrote on the note he had left her. "I see you didn't betray me," he said cheerfully as he rolled off of her, completely letting go of her wrists. He got out of bed.

"Why would I?" she asked as she sat up to follow his movement with her eyes.

"You tell me," he said with no emotion as he walked out. She heard him laugh, "Dracula, Kerry?"

She got up and walked where he was at.

"You realize that we do not wear those dorky capes…or sleep in a coffin."

"You gotta have at least one cape in the back of your closet."

He looked at her, grinning amusingly, "Kerry, go pack."

"Going somewhere?" she asked lightly.

"Yes, on a little trip. And you're coming."

"As if I have anything else better to do," she muttered as she walked back to her room.

"Well, do you?" he asked brightly.

She turned around and took a deep breath, "No." She added sarcastically, "And even if I did, I'm sure you wouldn't care."

He gave her a vampire grin and she turned away to pack.

When she was done, she found him waiting in the living room, watching Dracula, amused at it.

"So, where to?" she asked as he turned off the TV.

"We're going to Maine," he said as he got up.

"Sounds like fun," she said, looking over at him.

"Oh yea, loads," he stated, as he grabbed her suitcase and went out to a parked car.

Next thing you know, they were off to Maine.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	8. On the road to Maine

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 8: On the road to Maine

Three hours later, Kerry was getting restless. "Are we almost there?" she asked.

"Yep," he replied brightly.

"So, where are we going?" she asked, turning to look at him, noting how his hair was now longer.

"Kerry," he sighed, "You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into."

What did that have to do with where we were going? "What do you mean?"

He glanced at her, "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?" she asked.

"A major outbreak of war between vampires and vampire hunters," he stated blandly.

She just stared.

"It started a year ago. That's why I was so shocked to see you there, with them, thinking you were one of them."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, relaxing her eyes on his good features.

He looked at her with those piercing blue eyes of his, "Kerry, where we are going, you need to stay by me and _never_ leave my side."

He was being serious. He turned his eyes back on the road. She realized then why he had been so shocked, even though he just said it, but it had to click in her mind. She was in the middle of a war, just about taking part in it, and she didn't even know. That's why they went to go get Joey, she supposed. To kill the hunters. Was it a reverse trap? Did Joey let the hunters get him just so they would be killed? Does that make any sense at all?

"You heard a guardian," he stated blandly, jumping her from her thoughts.

Startled, she looked towards him, realizing what he just said. So she did hear something. She wasn't crazy.

He sighed, "After you went to sleep, Aaron and I talked."

"The guardian, you mean?"

"Yes. And he sent another guardian to come and stay for the day to watch you. You didn't know, which was the whole point."

"Oh…so you didn't trust me…" she stated, trying to hide the sorrow in her voice.

"No, I do, Kerry. I just had to make sure I could. If you weren't going to let me feed off of you to find out, then I had to find an alternative way."

"Oh. Okay." She thought for a moment, then her eyes widened.

"What?" he asked, giving her an anxious look.

"What if he saw me get dressed?" she asked, horrified by the thought.

He laughed, "Kerry, I'm sure he wasn't interested in that. His main concept, I believe, was to see if you'd rip open the curtains and kill me."

"Well, he didn't have to do it right when I was making poptarts." She frowned as she crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back in her seat.

He laughed again, "Well you did eventually get something to eat."

She glanced down at the Wendy's trash on the floor.

"Oh, and he is actually a she," she looked up at him, "Which is probably why she wasn't interested_ if_ she saw you naked." He laughed at her seeing her relief.

He frowned about 15 minutes later at the gas gauge. "When was the last time you filled the tank?"

"Umm…" then something dawned on her, "Wait a second, how did my car get back to my apartment? I left it at the park."

"Joey told me and then I took a bus to the park"

"How did you get my keys?" she asked him unsteadily.

He looked at her and gave her a vampire grin, "I was waiting for you to figure out how we ended up in your car."

She sighed as she turned back to the window.

Ten minutes later, they pulled into a gas station. She took this as an opportunity to pee. She got out of the car.

"Where do you think you're goin'?" Michel asked expectedly.

She turned around, "If you must know, I have to pee."

He sighed and looked around anxiously, "Don't go anywhere else. Maine is a dangerous place."

She nodded.

She walked across the street and towards the side of the building. Gas station bathrooms were always disgusting. She stepped into the bathroom noting that there was a puddle of water on the floor; at least she hoped it was water.

When she went to walk out of the disgusting bathroom, she was grabbed by the neck and was pushed back in.

_Oh no, why do you have to push me back into this smelly place?_

In that moment, she screamed as physically as possible, Michel's name. She was cut off towards the end. She could tell by the touch of him that he was a vampire. Or was he a guardian?

"I know Michel," she choked, "I'm with him now."

"Liar," he whispered in her ear, "He's smart enough to know not to be with a vampire hunter."

"No…I'm not—" she squealed out in pain as he squeezed her neck.

"Let her go," a deep voice said in the front of the bathroom.

"Why should I?" he snarled, glancing slightly to the side.

In a blink of an eye, literally, Michel was in the vampire/guardian's face, "She's with me. She is none of your concern."

"She's a hunter," he growled.

"No, she's just an idiot."

That was what, the third time that he called her an idiot in front of his own kind? "Release her," Michel growled.

He slowly took his hand off her throat. Swiftly, Michel grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him.

"Get in the car Kerry," he commanded her, handing her the keys, "Lock all the doors. Don't open them until I tell you to."

She nodded and he released his grip from her arm.



Ten minutes later, she saw Michel and the other guy walking towards the car. Michel nodded for her to open the doors when he got right up on the car. She did. The other guy also came in the car and sat in the back.

"Kerry, I'd like for you to meet Ted. He's a very good friend of mine." Michel said smoothly in a polite manner as he slid into the car.

She looked back at him and then forward. She mumbled to herself, "Didn't seem like that before."

Michel laughed amused, "Well, I could see myself getting worked up too if I thought Ted was traveling with a hunter." He looked at her and grinned, his blue eyes piercing through her.

She turned away with a slight smile forming. He laughed again as he started the car.

Michel and Ted talked back and forth, in a different language that is. She could see that Michel had mastered Japanese. It had to be Japanese. After all, that's what he was working on last time. Fascinated at first grew to boredom. She laid her head against the window and pretended that she was asleep, only to find out that she actually did fall asleep. Michel was shaking her awake. It was ten at night.

"Stay by my side. Don't leave my side. It's dangerous." He pulled her out of the car and she stumbled, but he caught her. He grasped her hand and clung tightly.

Was it to protect her or to restrain her from running off?

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	9. Pushing Matter

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

**A/N: I have considered combining this chapter and a few others since they are so short…but I have decided not to. I rather not shift my reviews sense I am revising. Think it's stupid? Deal with it.**

**While I'm here, please do tell me if you see any grammar errors or any mistakes. If you happen to see 'my' when it should be 'her' please tell me. I go over these chapters about four times before I post. But, I'm human. What can I say?**

Chapter 9: Pushing Matter

After walking a mile and a half in complete wilderness, they came up to a large building. Michel couldn't think to just drive a little bit closer? They walked into this huge building from what seemed to be the back of it. All the while, Michel never seemed to ease up on his grip. Ted was following along right next to them.

They came up to a door, with a female standing there, her arms over her chest. She had a petite figure with long sandy blonde hair. When they got closer, Kerry noticed that her eyes were violet.

"Is she a hunter?" the female vampire asked, looking at the three of them expectedly.

Michel's grasp became tighter. Kerry winced and he looked at her, easing on his grip a little, "No she's not. She's just a—"

Kerry cut him off, "Idiot?"

He glared at her.

"Well, that's what you've told everyone so far," she shrugged.

The female vampire raised an eyebrow.

Michel continued, "She's just a friend who I've known for three years. She just happens to be…" he looked at her. She returned the glance.

She sighed, "I'm an idiot," she said raising her hand in the air, and then let it drop.

"Your finally admit it, Kerry," Michel said with a sly grin on his face.

"Who is she, Michel," the female vampire asked sharply.

He looked back at the female in front of him, who seemed to be growing impatient.

"I suppose the answer that she is not a vampire hunter wouldn't suffice, now would it?"

She looked at him coldly, "Michel, you know the rules! Stop playing such ignorant games!"

"Well, you know Ash, I can't help it," he joked smugly.

"What are you doing with a human girl at something like this?"

"She did a very stupid thing."

"What would that be?"

"She wanted to find me, so she joined a vampire hunting group until she found a vampire. She was lucky I was there. She would have been killed."

"And why were you trying to find him, you stupid human?" she asked, now looking at Kerry.

"I wanted to see him," she said looking straight into those violet eyes of hers.

"And you couldn't find any other way?" the annoyance in her tone was thick, along with the coldness.

"That's what I asked her," Michel chimed in. He seemed to be not taking it serious, the vampire in front of him serious, that is.

"So, why did you bring her here?"

"I thought she could be useful." Michel said, glancing at Kerry, who was wondering now how in the world she could be useful to them.

"Useful?" she echoed with annoyance, "We already have guardians. Why would we need her?"

"Because, I think so," Michel said, pushing the subject of whether or not she was useful to them.

"It's going to have to take more than that, Michel," she snapped

"No it won't. Remember Ash, I'm one of the head leader's here."

Kerry glanced at him surprised.

"If I say she stays, she stays," Michel's voice finality in it.

"You know the others won't like it," Ash said, toning down her annoyance.

"Fuck the others," Michel said, his eyes flashing cold.

Ash finally shrugged, "If you really want to take a human girl into a room full of vampires, be my guest."

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	10. Only I Can Touch Her!

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 10: Only I Can Touch Her!

Ash let them go through the door she was standing in front of. She walked right behind them as they walked the long hallway. They came across another door and they walked through it. There were many people in the very large room. Kerry guessed the people to be either vampires or guardians, or a mix of the two. There were shelves along the room that were heavily equipped with weapons. There were tables and chairs, almost like a cafeteria, positioned in the room. Glasses were on the table filled with red liquid that Kerry knew was to be blood. Some vampires/guardians held their glasses, sipping it, conversing with one another. That was until they walked in.

Kerry's heartbeat set them all to turn to see who it was that they were bringing. They practically all looked up and towards her direction all at once. Some of them shrugged, not caring as much, or it wasn't in their position to care. But some did. They wanted to know who that girl was. A few began to walk towards them, slowly forming a small group. They stared at Ash, who was pissed. Ted, looking with curiosity to see what was going to happen next, but ready to defend Michel any moment. Michel, who was now tightening his grip on Kerry's hand as the small group closed in on them. Kerry, she wanted to run out of there so badly with her heart pounding.

"So, who is she?" a guy asked, nodding towards Kerry.

Kerry wanted to shrink or just disappear. Disappearing sounded nice.

"A friend," Michel said calmly, but firmly.

"Michel, what the hell?" another guy asked, not seeing her as a friend, and if she was, why the hell was he bringing her here?

"Oh, this will be something," Kerry heard Ash mumble under her breath.

Michel just stepped forward, pulling Kerry with him purposely. She tried to jerk back, but he gave her a look. She sighed and walked with him. There were about five vampires that gathered around him, glancing at him and looking mainly at her.

Michel began to say, "Now, this is Kerry. I trust her with my life."

"You can't be serious!" another guy asked.

He gave him a sharp look, "But I am serious."

They just stared, really having to accept Michel's word.

But that was until someone else spoke up, "She's a hunter! I recognize her!"

"That changes everything!" another one said. If she was, then they could go against what Michel said because it would be in their best interest to stay safe. And there was nothing safe about a hunter.

"She's not a hunter." Michel said, "Now, no one, and I mean _no one_, is allowed to touch her."

"What are you thinking?" the guy continued from before.

"She's going to help us," Michel stated calmly.

"I am?" Kerry asked questionably.

He was startled, "Unless you would rather help the hunters," he said, then he added sharply, "like before."

Her eyes widened, and another vampire moved towards her, seeing that she was a hunter and needed to be killed. Michel hissed, literally, which made her jump. The vampire looked at Michel sharply, but stepped back.

"You idiot," Michel said to her as he grabbed her arm instead of her hand.

He pulled her away from the crowd of blood thirsty vampires, walking along one of the walls that had every weapon imaginable. They came up to a door, which he opened and pushed her in. It was a fairly large room. It had no windows that Kerry could see. Michel closed the door behind him as Kerry voluntarily stepped forward into the room, taking in her surroundings.

She noticed that there were several beds lined up in rows. It was where the vampires slept in the day if they stayed here. It had to be.

Kerry was pushed up against a wall. She met the eyes of Michel. It was dark with only the emergency lights on over head, and those didn't give off much light.

"Kerry, watch your mouth here!" he warned, "You can be smart with me all you want. I tolerate you. They won't."

"I'm sorry," she whispered, looking, no, falling into his cold, blue eyes.

He then did something she didn't expect. He hugged her. She hugged him back, of course. Who wouldn't?

"Watch yourself, Kerry. And I'll watch out for you."

He then kissed her neck gently, lingering there for a moment. He pulled back, soothing his thumb over her pulse. It jumped under his touch.

_I wonder…what it would feel like._

She pushed her head back and swept her hair behind her shoulders, almost offering herself to him. She leaned her entire body weight against the wall.

He looked at her and gave an insincere laugh, "Is that an offer?"

"Maybe…" she said smiling.

He gave a sly smile, but it turned into a real smile moments later after studying her and figuring out that she was serious. She knows she has never seen him smile like that. It was always a grin of amusement or a vampire grin. Never like this though. He rubbed her neck, as she arched it slightly to the side, her pulse thumping under his touch. The more he lingered there, the more she wanted to really feel the bite. His hand moved to her cheek and then her chin, staying there, almost willing her to look at him because she had closed her eyes. Her eyes fluttered open to find him staring intently at her with those blue eyes of his. He caressed her cheek and then it trailed back to her neck. He looked at her intently one last time before he began to lower his head, slipping a hand under her neck for support. As he caressed her arched neck in his hand, he pressed his lips to her throat, her pulse quickening.

"Will it hurt?" she asked a little shaky, breaking the silence that they had created.

He pulled back just ever so slightly to reply, "Just a small sting," he sounded amused.

Just as he put his lips to her throat once again, she told him, "You're not allowed to kill me."

He pulled back a little once again, "Whatever you say, Kerry."

She could tell that he was grinning. He leaned back down, letting his cool lips press against her hot throat. To prevent her from asking anymore questions, he pierced into her, making her gasp. She grasped onto Michel's side, clutching him, but as the pain passed, she eased on the clutching. She then was hit with a wave of pleasure as he took her blood. It made her feel so cold, and yet so hot all at the same time. She gasped again, grabbing onto Michel and pulling him as close as she could. He let her, letting his free hand lay on her waist, right where her shirt had slightly ridden up. His touch there made her feel like fire while him taking her blood made her feel like she was ice cold. What a contradiction going on in her body.

He withdrew and kissed her gently there, with her still tightly wrapped around him. He pulled his head up after leaving a lingering kiss on her neck. Their faces only inches apart. Her heart raced as this exhilarated feeling raced through her. It was exactly how he had described it to her three years ago, that and more. She took her hand and put it on her throat right where she had just gotten bitten and then she looked at Michel with an expression of aw on her face.

He couldn't help but in that moment embrace her back and kiss her on her lips, with her kissing him back. She dropped her hand from her throat and embraced him. He then kissed her on her neck where he had bitten her, her heart racing so fast. He pulled her closer as she rested her head on his shoulder. He rocked her back and forth.

"You weren't lying," he whispered in her ear.

"Why would I?" she whispered back.

"You wouldn't," he replied softly.

Just then the door flung open. Kerry jumped. Michel didn't. Apparently he knew that whoever it was, was in fact coming in.

"Get outa here," Michel growled, still hugging her in a tight grasp that she couldn't pull out of even if she wanted too.

Mind you, she didn't even want to. She wished they could stay that way forever, just like that one time she had wished the same thing right before she walked away from him three years ago. If she had stayed, would Dad and Ian still be alive? Was it her fault? She sighed at this thought out loud and let herself lean more into Michel, clinging to him. She didn't want to let go, ever. The one who entered the room moved in more, closing the door behind him. Michel then pushed her back up against the wall, forcing her to release him.

"I smell blood," the man said in a snarl.

Both of the men's faces were unreadable with no human emotion.

"So what if you do? You're not the only one here with a keen nose. I'm sure they all smell it. They all just have the sense to stay out." Michel growled back.

Not going on with what Michel was saying, "You drank from her? I thought you were trying to protect her!"

"And what do you know about protection, Rex?" Michel snarled.

"I let him," she spoke up boldly.

Michel shot a glance at her and Rex raised his eyebrows at her.

"Be quiet, Kerry," Michel practically growled at her.

"Michel!"

He gave her a sharp look.

"You can't do that to me! You can't put me on an emotional roller coaster like this!"

"You have no idea, Kerry!" Michel yelled as he grabbed her arms tightly.

She winced in pain. He didn't ease up on his grasp, even though he could tell that he was hurting her. He had the same look on his face. The face from what's-her-face, the swamp, and when he almost killed her when he found her with vampire hunters. And now, that she let him drink from her, this shouldn't be happening. But it was. Michel restrained her and arched her neck.

"What the hell are you doing, Michel?" she yelled out.

His lips went to her throat, but she didn't try to struggle. There was no use, like always, when he was this serious about restraining her. He could do it without hurting her, but this wasn't the case. His lips went to her throat as her heart raced. He kissed her neck gently, just like at the swamp. She began to calm down and made her body relax and not be so tense. He released his grip on her arms and she embraced him. He still had her neck arched and his lips on her throat.

"Please don't do it again, Michel. Not now," she whispered.

A few moments later, he pulled back from her and she stared at him in the eyes. Michel turned away from her with no expression. He then gave Rex a sharp look. Michel grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him.

Before they walked out, Michel gave out a sharp order to Rex, "Only I can touch her! No one else!" He then pulled her and left the room, leaving Rex in there alone.

Michel was in the crowd again with her in his grasp. He walked to the front where six other vampires were at. She recognized all of them. Ash, Ted, Nate, Noah, Joey, and… Oh! She didn't recognize her.

"Michel, what the hell?" the girl asked annoyed.

"Well, I'm sure they've told you," Michel said, gesturing to the group she already knew.

"You said that we couldn't touch her. Yet, you took her blood." Ted said firmly.

"I," Michel shot back, "am the only one who can touch her like that. No one else is to do that."

Ash looked at her, "Did he drag you into this?"

Michel shot back again, "I didn't drag her into anything!"

"Well…" Kerry began to speak up softy, "I didn't exactly get dragged. I willingly went. Though…" she began to glance around the room, "I am a little confused."

Michel grasped her arm tighter.

Ash saw the tension, "You're protecting her," she whispered.

Michel let up a little in his tone and on his grip, "If I don't, they will…"

"I get it now," she laughed slightly to herself, "She was the interruption three years ago. She knew and you let her go."

Kerry hadn't realized that they hadn't known about her. Though, she supposed that was to be expected.

"And the guardians found out?" Ash continued, curious.

"No. None were where we were at during that time."

"And now?" the other girl spoke up.

Michel sighed, "They know." Michel looked at her, "They know she got involved with vampire hunters. She will be recognizable now. They won't just kill her either."

Ash gasped a sigh under her breath, "They're more ruthless then us."

"Right. And if they get their hands on her…" Michel said tightly, grasping her even harder, "I won't allow that."

Kerry hadn't realized that it was her fault. She was the one who ran.

"But…" they all looked at her, "You told me a guardian was in my apartment during daylight…when you were there."

"I know. Some guardians can be persuaded, depending on the person and who is doing the persuading." Michel looked at her. "The one who was in your apartment, both of them, knew me. They knew me well enough to trust me when I told them I trusted you."

"Then, if it wasn't them then…" she said distantly.

Ash answered for Michel in a soft voice, "Kerry, guardians look and watch out for vampire hunters. If you were with vampire hunters, then they target you."

"How?" Kerry asked, trying to put things together in her mind.

Ash looked at her confused.

"How do they know it's me? What I look like, things like that. How does that get spread around?" Kerry asked again with much more detail.

"We all have our ways, Kerry," Ash said in a final tone. "I have to go see about that one thing. Excuse me." Ash said, slipping away from the group. Noah followed her along with Nate, the unnamed girl, and Ted.

Joey stayed and glared at Michel and then Kerry. Michel wrapped an arm around Kerry, pulling her close.

"What little charade is this, Michel?" Joey asked lowly.

"There is no charade," Michel said, looking at Joey with ease.

"You bring that goddamn hunter in here; claim you trust her with your life! What the fuck kind of blackmail does a pathetic girl like her have over you?"

Michel growled lowly as a warning for Joey to back off, but he wasn't going anywhere.

"Not only does having her around make me fucking thirsty, but she could be just trying to get on the inside. And I gotta say she's doing a pretty fucking good job at that!"

"Shut your mouth!" Michel snarled demandingly. "You don't think before words roll off the tip of your tongue. I suggest you start to think before you talk or you'll wind up dead."

"Is that a threat?" Joey growled.

"Only if you take it as a threat," Michel snarled, "Now get outa my face! You make me sick!"

Kerry leaned against Michel's side, watching as Joey walked away, flipping a chair as he went; his posture showing that he was completely pissed off. Stares lingered over towards them but soon turned away. Kerry was bewildered about what had just happened. Michel pulled on her, causing her to jump. She got over from being startled and let him lead. He gestured for her to sit down at an empty table he had led them to. She sat down and he followed, sitting dangerously close to her. He wasn't sitting right beside her, but more of beside her and slightly behind her.

"Now what?" she asked, knowing how close he was to her.

"We wait," he said, inching towards her.

"For what?" she asked, slightly confused and knowing she probably wouldn't get a straight answer out of him.

"You'll see," he said softly as he leaned in even more till her hair touched his face, taking in her Heavenly scent.

He swept away her hair with the flick of his wrist, kissing her neck, making her smile a small smile. He was right. The only one who could touch her was him.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	11. What Tools?

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 11: What Tools?

She sat there at the table with Michel leaning into her. Kerry watched as the others continued to converse and sip on their meal that were in crystal glasses. The minutes ticked by and Michel soon got up, latching onto Kerry's hand. He leisurely made his way to what looked to be the front of the room. Kerry looked for a clock and finally spotted one on the wall. It was just about midnight. Six other vampires followed Michel to the front. Michel pulled chairs that were tucked neatly under the table, kicking the table out of the way. He walked over to the nearest wall, scanning it for the quickest moment before grabbing what looked to be a hunting knife. He tossed it on the table he had just kicked. He then grabbed thick rope that was wound up. He walked over and dropped it on the table. He had no expression on his face. If he did, it would be a cold hardened expression, because he was certainly close to that. Not even one moment would he let go of his grip on Kerry's hand, as if afraid. They were obviously setting up for something, but what?

Just then, the main door opened with a 'WHAM'. Kerry had been watching that door the whole time since she was placed at the table. Undead were walking in and out of the door. They certainly weren't as announcing as just then. No one seemed to flinch but Kerry. She jerked her head towards the door to see who would make such a noise to come in. She could see a few others turn and coolly look at the door. There were 13 people walking through that door, eight who had looked to be beaten upon. A few in the room languidly moved to go and help. They were dragged to the front right where Kerry was at; two women and six men. Kerry instantly thought for this to be a go-around feed.

No. So totally wrong.

They were each pushed down in a chair, bonded to the chair with rope. Michel had reluctantly released Kerry's hand to help. A minute later though, she was back in his grasp, as if they were never apart.

Michel pulled her back from the hunters. She supposed that they were hunters. They had to be. One of the vampires picked up the hunting knife and held it to one of the hunters, playing a wicked smile on her face. Her voice was so soft and yet threatening, that Kerry could barely make out the words. She summoned it up in her head. She was trying to figure out where the rest were. Were there that many hunters?

"We don't need this one," the girl vampire said, pulling back. She cut the ropes, leaving the hunter, which was one of the guys, in an expression of horror.

"Come on, Kerry," Michel said hastily, pulling her towards a door. "Don't look back," he warned.

After he said that, she couldn't help but do just that. She looked back and saw someone attach onto his throat. She was jerked forward by Michel and was pulled into a room. He slammed the door, pushing Kerry far from the door just as the hunter began to scream out in pain. Kerry's face became white and she began to feel sick to her stomach. Two cold hands were placed on either side of her, making her jump. She was twirled around to meet Michel's blue eyes.

"I told you not to look back," his voice had irritation in it and somewhat concern.

"I…" was all she could get out.

He just shook his head and looked away from her, saying softly, "Still don't listen, do you?"

He let go of his grip of her arms.

After a few minutes of silence rolled by, Michel broke the silence, "I should get back out there. And I'm not leaving you in here alone," his voice sounded so authoritative that Kerry wanted to do anything he wished.

But, she remembered partly what she saw. She took a step back in protest, "Uh-uh."

"Don't worry about that," Michel said in a soothing voice, "I won't let them do that again once you're out there." He then mumbled, "They've had their fun already."

He grabbed onto her hand and drew her close, leading them out the door. Kerry scanned the room, seeing two dead bodies up against the wall. Kerry gagged, turning away from them. Michel pulled on her, making her come closer to the two dead bodies. They stopped before they got too close to the bodies, standing where they were standing originally. The hunters had been stabbed and were now being interrogated for locations and other information. A flicker of recognition ran through Kerry's eyes as she realized the closest hunter to her was in fact her leader, the man Michel and the rest had taken with them the other night.

The leader could feel eyes bore into him, making him turn his head slightly to meet with Kerry's. He was startled to see her. He realized it was the same vampire from last night who had hold of Kerry's hand. She was in danger. He had to talk to her. He had to tell her.

"Kerry," he whispered, his lips barely moving, barely making a sound.

Kerry locked eye contact with him, not wanting to break it just yet.

A surge of adrenaline and energy ran through him and he got the voice to yell out, "Kerry!"

Michel jerked his head towards the leader who just said her name. Anger flared up inside him. He had no right to say her name. Michel took a drastic measure, reaching for a hunting knife on the table next to them. He yanked Kerry with him as he plunged the knife right into the leader's thigh, making him yell out from the pain. The leader almost blacked out, feeling woozy and noting put a surge of intense pain. Kerry yelped out as well, trying to rip her hand from Michel's. Michel jerked his head towards her, shooting a cold glare her way, sending shivers down her back.

"Don't say her name," Michel said lowly through clenched teeth.

Michel then turned the knife while it was still in his thigh and yanked it out. The leader began to cough, rolling his head off to the side.

His voice was now hoarse and he was panting, "Kerry, use the tools we gave you."

"What tools?" Michel demanded in a dangerous tone, looking at Kerry now, still with the bloody knife in his hand. He dropped the knife to the floor and almost grabbed her with that hand, until he realized that it was all bloody, "Kerry?"

"I don't know," she whispered.

"Think, Kerry," Michel said as he released her hand.

She wondered if she should take that as a bad sign or not.

"The only thing I can recall as 'tools' are crosses, garlic, silver, and…" she hesitated at the last one, realizing something.

"And?" Michel said, pushing her forward. Not literally, mind you, just pushing the answer out of her.

"And…dead man's blood."

He looked startled, as did anyone else who was in her eye sight.

"She told them!" one hollered.

Michel grabbed her arm with the hand that wasn't bloody, "You tell me, 'How can she tell them if she didn't know?'"

Her eyes widened in full realization now.

"What?" Michel dodged a concerned look at her.

"I get it now," she whispered to Michel.

"Get what?" he asked uneasy, his hand slipping from her arm.

"But how could you not smell it?" she asked, her brow wrinkling from thought and confusion.

His eyes then widened too.

"I think these 'tools' are in my car," she finally told him.

Michel looked at her gravely. "What?" he barely whispered.

"I didn't put them there!" she said frantically, "They did. They claimed I needed protection."

"Say if there are these things in her car, what if she planned to use them against use?" one asked, looking at Kerry with suspicion.

"Then why would I tell you?" Kerry asked.

"Because you had to tell us…we would be able to tell if you were hiding something," the man replied back.

He was right. She probably wouldn't have said anything if it hadn't been brought up. She turned away from the man and back towards Michel, who was now planning something. He glanced at her, a flash of coldness going through his eyes.

Kerry stretched the hand that was stiff from Michel's cold hand. He still hadn't reached back over to take her hand.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	12. Playing Deadly Games

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 12: Playing Deadly Games

They walked a half a mile back to her car in the blackened night. And by 'they', it's not just Michel and Kerry, but ten other vampires. Michel still had the keys to the car from earlier. Michel had taken her hand again after leaving the building, pulling her close.

"How could you or Ted not smell it?" Kerry asked curiously, trying to see where she was going but wasn't really having any luck. She let Michel guide her, hoping he wouldn't let her run into a tree.

No response came from him. He just glanced at her coolly, squeezing her hand a little. He turned forward again. He didn't seem to be in a talkative mood since his vampire friends were around. They all just walked in silence.

An outline of a car came into sight. When they got closer, Michel released her hand and popped the trunk and unlocked all the doors. Two of the vampires made their way to the trunk. They began to throw things out of her trunk, including her suitcase. One of them raised an eyebrow at Michel and then glanced back down at the suitcase.

"Thinking long term, Michel?" the vampire asked, looking at Michel.

Michel narrowed his eyes at the vampire, but didn't say anything. All the while, a third vampire had gone over and began to shuffle through her suitcase. Four more vampires went into her car, each having their own side to search. The remaining three vampires surrounded the corners of the area. Michel and Kerry were at the forth corner.

"How come you can't just sort of sniff it out, sort of like a dog?" she asked, breaking the silence.

He looked at her, "A dog, Kerry?" he sounded amused.

"Why do you keep avoiding the question?" she pushed.

He sighed and turned away.

"Nothing," one of them said. The rest searching agreed.

"Kerry, where else would it be?" Michel asked.

"I still don't get why you can't just sniff it out." she said as she turned away from Michel.

"Kerry," Michel sounded slightly annoyed with her now, "that doesn't answer my question."

"Well, you haven't answered mine either." she shot back at him.

He sighed in frustration. He ran his hands through his hair, a nervous gesture of his she found out three years ago, "We can't smell dead man's blood, Kerry, especially if it's been spiked with holy water."

"Holy water?" she asked surprised. Not crosses, but holy water?

"Yes, holy water works on us too, but not in the worst of ways. If you throw it on us, it won't burn us. It will just be a mild irritation. Throw it in an open wound and that will burn us."

One of the vampires gave Michel a sharp look.

"Now tell me, where else could it be?"

Kerry shrugged and walked over to the driver seat, getting in the car. Michel followed her by getting in the passenger side. "Let me have my keys, Michel." she said as she stared at the controls in her car.

Michel handed Kerry her keys, looking at her coolly. Kerry started the car, hitting the windshield wipers on. She hit the radio button, scanning to channel 95.7. Last, she put the car in drive, while hitting the brake of course. Wouldn't want to be rolling away now would we? She then turned off the car with Michel just starring at her coolly still with those blue eyes of his. She got out and he followed her, taking back the keys.

She walked around to the trunk, which was still open. A small compartment that was not visible before was now popped up. She opened it. She reached down in this little cubby in her car. She began to pull out a gun that was loaded with silver bullets, and she laid it down on the floor of the trunk. She also pulled out a cross, a bottle of holy water, a knife made of silver, and also a jar of dead man's blood. She laid it all out on the floor of the trunk. She could feel the vampires glaring at her as she went to step back. But Michel grabbed her arm and pulled her back towards him.

"You couldn't tell me this before?" he growled.

She shrugged, "If you had answered my question before…"

He grabbed her tightly and swung her up against the car, "You don't get to play games like this with me, Kerry," he growled.

Her heartbeat rose a little from the suddenness, but other than that, she wasn't the least bit threatened when he leaned over her neck.

"Are you threatening me, Michel?" she was able to say in a steady voice.

"I **am** a threat," he said sternly, still restraining her and still next to her throat.

"Then go ahead, Michel," she said daringly, "Drain me if that is what you wish. But, I won't accept the offer."

He tightened his grasp and leaned into her, putting his lips on her throat. She braced herself for the bite. She braced herself for death. She was playing the deadly game and was about to lose.

All he did was kiss her.

_Why does he do that to me? Does he do it just to mess with my head? _

He pushed her back hard. He gave her a threatening look in his eyes. He circled the car, keeping an eye on her. Everyone remained still.

"You're not going to kill her?" one asked surprised.

"I would never kill her," Michel said in an unchanging voice.

"Aren't you going to do anything to her?" another asked.

"She knows better. She knows the threat. She's hiding her emotions very well," Michel looked at her, "Besides, I already fed off of her today. Any more blood taken from her, she just may die." He paused for only a second, "And that would be bad since she threatened me back by saying she wouldn't change."

"That was a threat?" another vampire asked.

Kerry looked at Michel surprised.  
"Of course it was. I simply don't want her dead." He paused for a moment and then added on, "yet."

When they put her suitcase back in the trunk and closed all doors, they were ready to head back to the building. Kerry stayed, leaning up against the car, not really wanting to go back. As the rest began to walk forward, Michel stayed and glared at her. After a few moments with dead silence except for the nighttime animal and bug noises, he moved so fast, Kerry couldn't keep up with his movements. His cold hand was around her arm in a tight grasp and he yanked her forward off the car. She let out a gasp as he practically dragged her forward.

"Michel!" she just about shrieked, feeling like he was trying to yank her arm right off. She was sure he could actually literally do that.

"Walk faster then," he said darkly.

She was aggravated with him and at the same time, afraid. So, she attempted to walk faster. He was still dragging her a little bit since it just so happened she wasn't as fast as a vampire. Shocking, I know. And after she tripped on a stupid tree root, almost falling, but since Michel had a hold of her, caught her, he finally slowed down. How knightly of him.

They finally got to a happy pace where she wasn't staggering to keep up and he wasn't dragging her. They made it back to the group, which Kerry figured they just slowed down and waited for them, because they so totally could have beaten them back.

Kerry fell into thought as Michel grabbed hold of her hand the moment they were in other vampire's presence.

_Michel doesn't want me dead, yet. Key word: yet. Does that mean he is waiting for me to change my mind or just to plain, outright, kill me because of my knowledge? Who knows? Vampires are very funny, mysteries…creatures._

They were almost to the building when all the vampires just stopped. Kerry being in her own little world of thought ran right into a vampire in front of her. She jumped backwards, noticing that he didn't even turn back to glare at her. She glanced at Michel who still had hold of her hand, but his face was blank. After standing there for a moment in silence, she asked, "What is it?"

Michel answered after another moment dryly, "Too many normal heartbeats."

Another said in a low growl, "I smell blood."

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	13. Ash’s Suffering

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 13: Ash's Suffering

They made their way back to the building. Michel pulled her closer as he listened for heartbeats. He stopped. "Stay here," he said sternly.

"But…" she began to protest.

"Stay!" he said more forcefully and walked through the door without Kerry.

Kerry leaned against the brick wall feeling uneasy. She dodged glances in the dark and froze when she heard footsteps farther out. When an outline of a man appeared, she was ready to run. Then she saw the nice big gun that he wielded. That's when she pushed herself off the wall and ran through the doors. She was grabbed by her sleeve though to let her go any farther. She shrieked, but the man hushed her, placing himself in front of her. She recognized him to be Nate. He had one scratch down his arm, but that was about it.

"Who's out there?" he asked her sternly.

"I'm not sure. He had a gun though. A very big gun," she replied, hoping that she was of some help, but doubted it.

He nodded and let her go. "Don't go outside again," he said to her as he exited the building to most likely kill the man outside.

Kerry didn't want to just stand there, so she went into the bigger room where they were earlier and where Michel was most likely at. It was also most likely that he didn't want her to go in there at the moment.

When she walked though the big doors, before she even actually entered the room, she was grabbed in a tight grasp right from behind and she heard a gun load. The one who had hold of her slammed her into a wall, where she got to stare into a face she didn't recognize at all. He had his hand on her throat.

"I…" she choked out but stopped trying to talk. He added more pressure the moment she did.

Kerry scanned the room frantically for Michel, but she didn't see him. She figured he probably mistook her heartbeat as just any other heartbeat. That's when her eyes landed on Joey. He was the only familiar face. He walked up to her, whispering heavy threats in her ear.

"You **will** talk, Kerry. I know you led them here. How many more know about this location?"

Kerry could feel the guy who had hold of her throat ease up so she could talk. "You're crazy, Joey!" she spat at him.

He slapped her in the face, making her gasp.

"I will not hesitate to kill you," he whispered darkly in her ear that sent shivers up her spine.

"Did I miss something?" a dangerous voice said in the middle of the room.

It was Michel, and he wasn't happy. His arms were to his sides, bawled in a fist. Joey pulled back, glancing at Michel. In a blink of an eye, Michel slammed Joey right next to Kerry. She jumped and moved freely out of the way since the guy who had hold of her let go.

"You don't touch her! You know that! Yet you stand there and question her and hit her! Can you not follow at least one order?!" Michel yelled in his face.

Joey clenched his teeth together. "She's a hunter. And you know it."

Michel slammed him harder into the wall ready to practically wail on him. But Ted appeared next to him.

"We need to talk," Ted said to Michel firmly.

"I'm busy right now!" he said angrily.

"They've got Ash and Noah."

Michel jerked his head to look at Ted.

"They are nowhere to be found."

Michel threw Joey to the side and he stumbled to the ground.

"Ashley…" Michel whispered with his head down. It was silent for a moment as Michel seemed to concentrate on something. "I smell her blood. I'm going after them." Michel said sternly, looking up now. "Kerry, you're coming with me. Ted, you too."

He grabbed onto Kerry's hand, pulling her forward. When they got to the car, he opened the backseat for Kerry, running his hand across her cheek that Joey had slapped. She glanced at him with question after she sat down, but he had closed the door and moved to the driver's seat with Ted already in the passenger seat. Kerry glanced at the clock after Michel started the car. It was only ten past one.

After driving for about 15 minutes in silence, she spoke up, "How do we know where to…"

Michel cut her off sternly, "Shut-up, Kerry!"

She looked at him surprised, trying to see his face in the mirror, since she was in the back seat. She couldn't so much see his face, not that if she could, like she could read his emotion. So, she just leaned back and let Michel continue to drive in silence.

Twenty-five minutes later, Michel finally spoke up, but it was more of an out-loud thought, "We're close."

And by two in the morning, they pulled into an empty parking lot. Ted and Michel got out. Michel growled for her to hurry up. She hadn't realized that he wanted her to come in with them.

They slipped though the back. Her heart was pounding, afraid of what she may see. "Stay here," Michel whispered in her ear.

She nodded.

Ted and Michel walked into the room. There were shots fired, but from the sound of it, things were under control.

Kerry leaned away from the door Ted and Michel went through, leaning against the opposite wall. But when she thought she heard a noise, like someone coming in through the door they had come from, she jumped, turning her body sideways. That's when a hand went over her mouth and another hand grabbed her waist. She jumped, instantly trying to pull away. And when that failed, she began to try to scream and bite his hand. The hands had to have belonged to a man. He had black leather gloves on, but even with those, she could still feel the coldness of his touch.

"You vampire hunter," he hissed.

She tried to shake her head frantically.

"I'm not going to kill you. You torture us, we'll torture you."

Her heart raced as she panicked more and more. He moved his hand from her waist to her throat. She began to flail wildly trying to get away. His hand on her throat tightened and she was cut off from oxygen. Her heart sped up, not producing anymore oxygen and Kerry began to panic even more, desperate for air.

"Let her go!" she could tell that it was Michel's voice.

She was getting lightheaded and dizzy. She remembers falling. But, she doesn't remember landing anywhere as she blacked out.

She hit the ground, completely out of it now. Michel moved and picked her up at the vampire's feet, carrying her bridal style.

"I brought her. She's not a hunter," Michel said.

"I recognize her," the vampire replied back blandly.

Michel turned away to walk into the other room, "I'm not surprised that you do."

Michel set Kerry down gently not too far from Ash. He stared at her for another moment with this serious look on his face, brushing a few strands of her hair away from her face.

"Explain the girl," the vampire said, following him into the next room.

Michel stood up and looked at him coolly.

* * *

Kerry woke up and instantly began to chock and cough. She looked at her surroundings. Ash was leaning up against the wall. She was groaning, as if in pain. She swayed her head from side to side. Kerry then saw all these bloody marks on her, like she had been cut.

_But, how come they hadn't healed yet? _

Kerry looked forward to find Michel, Ted, Noah, and some other vampire cleaning the place up. Noah also had some scratches on him, just like Ash, but far less than her. Kerry looked back at Ash and rolled a little towards her side. The poor girl was trembling. Kerry touched her wrist, as if to try and comfort her somehow. She screamed out the moment her hand came in contact with her skin. Kerry jumped backwards as the others looked up.

"Don't touch her, Kerry," Michel said looking at her as the others went back to what they were doing, "She was cut with dead man's blood…a lot of it. If that ever happens, it makes us paranoid and afraid. She feels paralyzed right now, psychologically and physically."

Kerry looked back at Ash and then back at Michel.

"You alright, Kerry?" he asked her.

Kerry rubbed the front of her neck and slightly nodded.

"I didn't realize that someone else went after Ash and Noah. He wasn't around when I left you alone," he said sternly to her, as if trying to make a point.

"I trust you, Michel," she said as she guided herself up using the wall for her support.

Michel watched her carefully.

Kerry looked over at the other vampire. He caught her eye, "Michel, I'm gonna have to ask you again," the vampire said sternly, still with his eyes on her. Michel turned his head to look at the other vampire. "What the hell are you doing with a human like her or for any human for that matter?"

"I told you before," Michel began but was cut off.

"I don't care about _that_. What I care about is you letting her go when she knew."

"She saved my life," he spoke sternly, "I wasn't about to kill her unless she wanted to change. I offered. When she refused, I let her walk away."

"Sounds like you've gone soft," he snarled.

"I didn't go soft!" Michel shot back at him, "I can kill just fine."

Michel looked at her. Kerry was surprised that he was defending her. Michel was about to say something, when Ash screamed out in pain. Tears were coming from her eyes. "Make it stop…" she whimpered softly.

Kerry knelt down next to her. The wounds with dead man's blood were boiling for some reason. It sort of reminded her when someone pours hydrogen peroxide on a cut and how it bubbles.

"Can we do anything for her?" Kerry asked glancing back at Michel.

He shook his head, "No," he answered in an almost whisper.

Kerry looked at Ash again. She remembered when Michel had said that vampires could only feel extreme pain. That went for temperatures as well. This pain was making Ash cry. That was almost as bad as sunlight.

Kerry sat down again and switched glances between Ash and the other three vampires. They looked to be about done with cleaning and setting a scene to make the vampire hunter's death look like something else.

Five minutes later, Noah appeared next to her. Kerry looked up at him. He was looking down at Ash. Kerry saw him sigh to himself. He leaned down to pick up Ash. The second he did, she began screaming. He was carrying her in his arms. "Calm down Ashley. Come on," Noah said to her gently.

Michel came over and told her to come as well. As she walked with Michel back to the back entrance, the third vampire wiped where Ash and she had been at.

They walked to the car, where Michel held the door open so Noah could place Ash in the backseat. She cried out in pain. Kerry was frightened that a vampire was in so much pain. Noah went around and sat in the middle seat. The third vampire appeared just as Noah closed the back door. Michel got in the driver seat, "Kerry, get in front," he told her.

She did. She guessed he noticed the look on her face. She was in horror about Ash's condition. She saw the third vampire get in his own car as Michel started the car. She bet it wasn't even _his_ car really.

After about fifteen minutes of silence, which was broken periodically by Ash's cries, she began to cry. Kerry put her legs on the seat so she could bury her face in her knees. Kerry was trying so hard not to cry.

"Kerry?" Michel was startled.

"I'm sorry," she said between sobs. Why was she sorry? Because she couldn't control her own hormones? Or because she just felt like just saying it?

"Kerry…" Michel said gently.

"I just can't stand the fact that they tortured her!" she sobbed out, lifting her head slightly to look at Michel.

He sighed a soft sigh. He put his hand on her knee and pressured it down. She gave in and put both her legs down. She wiped the remaining tears on her cheeks away.

Michel was switching glances from the road to her. He put his hand on her cheek, "Oh, Kerry," he said in a soft sigh, "I'm sorry I dragged you here with me. I didn't mean for you to see…" he sighed again, "I just didn't trust anyone with you. I just wanted to be able to keep my eye on you."

He slid his hand to her throat where he pushed her loose strains of hair back. He then moved his hand to her shoulder and then down her arm. He glanced at the road again then at her again. His eyes weren't as cold as usual. They were gentler with a small look of remorse. He sighed again and put his hand back on the steering wheel.

Ash's moans of pain had died down only a little. Kerry put her head against the cold window. Michel looked at her. "Just go to sleep," Michel said to her gently.

She nodded slightly, not parting her head from the cold window. She fell asleep in less than five minutes.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	14. No Big Deal

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 14: No Big Deal

Kerry woke up in a small room. She glanced around, seeing that the room was empty. She got up from the floor wondering how she was able to sleep in such an uncomfortable position. She made her way to the door, pressing her ear against it. She heard a muttering of voices. She laid her hand on the door knob, turning it, surprised to find that it wasn't locked. She pushed the door open and peaked out. She saw nobody, but still heard the distant voices. So, she walked out and followed the voices.

She followed the hallway, running her hand up against the wall as she walked.

"Great," she heard a sarcastic voice after walking for only about 30 seconds.

The voice made her jump and turn in the direction of the voice.

"You're awake."

She stared at him blankly, not recognizing him.

"What does Michel see in you?" the male vampire asked.

She stepped back, not trusting him, at least not with what happened after Joey.

He laughed at her. "Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you. I can't even touch you."

"Where's Michel?" she asked hesitantly.

"Come," he said as he walked past her.

Did she have choice? Of course she did. Well…she supposed not really now that she thought about it… So she just followed. They headed in the direction where the voices grew louder. When they walked by a closed door, she heard a cry of pain. It was familiar. It was Ash. Without thinking, she stopped and opened the door. Kerry saw Noah trying to comfort Ash. She didn't seem to be out of it as much as she was before, but she was still in pain.

"Kerry," Noah said surprised.

The other vampire who she was following appeared by her side.

"Is she alright?" Kerry asked unsteadily, looking at Ash.

Noah looked at Ash and then back at her, "She'll be fine. She'll heal soon. It's just extremely painful," he said as if it was no big deal.

She thought it was a big deal. She didn't say anything about it though. She just nodded. It was none of her business. It was vampire business.

"You," the vampire said as he in her face, but wasn't touching her, "Let's go."

Kerry followed him as he left the room. She glanced one more time at Noah and Ash. Noah was too focused on Ash to see her leave.

And, even though it was none of her business, she thought that Noah really did think that it was a big deal.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	15. Abandoning My Baby

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 15: Abandoning My Baby

When they got into the hallway and were walking for only a moment, a group of vampires walked by them. They all just glared at her. Not too far behind them was another group, but with the vampire hunter leaders. She could tell by their condition, the way they were being treated, and because she recognized one of them—the one from the group she was with. They hadn't killed him. Also, when the hunters had come earlier on that night, they didn't free these guys. She supposed that they must have just been out of reach for them. Do hunters go with no man left behind if possible?

She was startled, as they took up most of the space in the hallway, by them. She jumped to the side, letting her back press against the wall. The vampire she was following ignored her and continued to walk. She caught up quickly.

More vampires walked out through the hall; she figured because it was almost daylight. They appeared to, she thought, the source of all the vampires. Michel walked out. Her eyes lit up…for whatever reason.

"Kerry," he said in a calm, curious voice, "I thought I heard your heartbeat."  
It wasn't 'I thought I heard you coming,' but it was her normal heartbeat that did it.

Michel looked at the other vampire and then back at her, "Did he touch you, Kerry?" his expression was the same with his light tone.

She shook her head.

"Good," he said cheerfully as he reached for her hand. "Kerry, we're leaving now. Ash and Noah will be coming with us."

Kerry just nodded, getting lost in his ice blue eyes. He then pulled her into the hallway and went back to the room where Noah and Ash were at.

"Ready to go?" Michel asked cheerfully.

"Why so cheerful?" she asked. He was in such a good mood.

He frowned, but for only a moment, "Now, since when did I need a reason?" Cheerful again.

He killed her with his emotional roller coaster. With the thought of him killing her, he _could_ for real do that. It would be fairly easy for him to kill her. Why did she just let that fact roll off her shoulder?

"Let's go," Michel said cheerfully when he realized she wasn't going to respond.

Noah picked up Ash and she still moaned from the pain. Kerry still couldn't handle it and turned away.

They walked to Kerry's car, which somehow had gotten closer to the building. Michel popped the trunk and grabbed her suitcase.

"Want anything out of your car, Kerry?" Michel asked. It was cheerful, but not as perky as before.

"Leaving my baby behind?"

He looked at her amused while raising an eyebrow at her, "You didn't just call this hunk of junk your baby."

"It's not a hunk of junk," she protested as she took the keys from him.

She grabbed out of her car her purse and stuffed it with her Ipod and Ipod charger, and her cell phone charger. She reached to grab her sunglasses, but stopped herself. She laughed a little to herself, wondering when she'd ever need them again. She grabbed them though. They were 40 dollar sunglasses. She couldn't just abandon them. She then made sure she didn't want anything else. When that was realized, she got out and locked the door. She walked over to Michel and handed him the keys.

He grinned at her amused, "Now say good-bye to your baby, Kerry."

She laughed, realizing he was being serious, "But, I'm in love with my baby. I can't just abandon it."

"Sorry, Kerry," Michel said shrugging, "You'll be tracked if you take your baby."

She sighed, "I suppose you're right."

"Of course I am," he began with the cheerfulness again, "I know exactly what you are going through."

She laughed, taking full realization of their conversation, "Oh?" she asked.

He nodded, "I've had to leave many babies behind. I get to feeling some massive guilt."

She laughed as he pulled her close. An SUV came into sight as they walked. Michel let her go when they got near it and put her suitcase in the back. Ash and Noah were already in the backseat waiting. She got in the front passenger side as Michel got in the driver's seat.

"Where to?" she asked.

"Away from the sun," he said grinning at her.

She turned away sighing.

Stupid vampire humor.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	16. Alone in the Dark

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

**A/N: **I wanted to wait a few days till I updated, but frankly, I am not the good at exercising patience. I got this done the moment I put the other chapter up. And now the other chapter is ready. But I think, with how this chapter ends, I can sum up some patience to torture you xp So Enjoy Readers :-D

Chapter 16: Alone in the Dark

They parked into a hotel parking lot. It was a huge hotel. Michel began to get out, "Stay here with Noah and Ash, Kerry."

She nodded drowsily. She was just so sleepy now. Should she be surprised? Not really. It was 6:30am. They had driven for about two hours.

_Why would we drive so far out?_

She turned to look at Ash, but Noah caught her eye "I have never seen Michel act this way towards a human in all the years that I've known him."

"And how long has that been?" she asked smiling, burning with curiosity.

He grinned at her, "As if I would tell you that."

She sighed, "I was just curious."

He just grinned at her. She could tell he was amused at her, "Well, I can see how you can be used for an amusement."

He gave her a look, but then relaxed the look into a look with no emotion.

"I'm only amusing because I don't know anything."

"It's obvious you do know something, or you wouldn't be in this position."

"And what position would that be?"

He just gave her a vampire grin. She sighed about to turn back around.

"Ask Michel," he said deeply, which caught her off guard.

She stared at him blankly. To break the tension that was forming, Michel came back. "Let's go," he said as he grabbed her suitcase.

Kerry trailed behind Michel as they entered the big building. Noah and Ash walked behind them. Ash was leaning into Noah completely though with Noah's arm around her for support. Carrying her would look too suspicious.

When they got into the elevator, Ash leaned against the wall, gripping the small railing that framed the elevator box. It got to floor number five and the doors opened. Michel nudged Kerry forward and walked out right behind her as Noah picked up Ash bridal style and walked out of the elevator. Michel stopped at a door and opened it. Kerry stepped in, noticing how dreadfully bliss the room was. She couldn't spot a single window. She also noticed how spacious the room was.

"One reason why I love this hotel" Michel started, which made Kerry jump and turn towards him, "or these kinds of hotels, is that you have the option of windows or not. I don't know who came up with the idea," he set the suitcase down. "My guess is a vampire." He looked at her, "Here are the rules, Kerry."

She groaned, turning away from him. He grabbed her jaw and turned her so she was facing him again. He dropped his hand to the side.

"Alright, no phone calls, except room service, no e-mail if you have access to a computer, no leaving this room, and nothing that would bring sunlight in here."

"How do you suppose I do that?" she asked wondering why he even mentioned it when there were obviously no windows.

He gave her a vampire grin. Then he finished with the rules, "You're welcome to order anything you'd like on the menu. I recommend that you do. You should eat. You can order paperview. Don't let _anyone_ come in the room."

She nodded.

"Oh," Michel added, "Don't touch Ash. She's going to have a somewhat restless night sleep."

She looked at him frightened.

"She may cry out, but it won't be as bad as earlier."

She nodded, reassured.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get to sleep."

She looked at the clock; it was 6:50am. "Night," she said.

"You look pretty tired yourself, Kerry," he said as he gently placed his hand on her cheek. She nodded in agreement that she was truly exhausted.

"I'll be there in a moment," she replied in an almost whisper.

She went and peed and then decided to take a shower. And when she was done, she realized that her clothes were still in the suitcase. No matter. By now, they were all asleep. She walked out of the bathroom that was closest to Ash and Noah's room. She stopped for a moment and peaked into their room, noticing that they each had their own bed. She closed the door quietly as Ash began to moan from pain. Even as she walked away from the door, she could still her Ash's soft moans.

She walked out into the living part of the hotel room that was equipped with a small, empty kitchen. She went into the suitcase and got something to wear to bed. She then put lotion on her face, deodorant on, and then she put something in her hair to make it silky. She was doing all from the light from this little lamp that was turned on. Michel must have turned it on for her.

She walked into the master bedroom which had its own bathroom. Michel was there. He was under the covers, even though Ash and Noah weren't. She wondered why. It looked very inviting. Maybe that was the whole point of it. She stopped analyzing it and went and got under the covers. She lay so she was facing him. She messed with his black hair that she loved. She was happy she was next to him. She then turned so her back was facing him. She looked at the clock. It read 7:30am. She drifted to sleep then.

She woke up at 3pm. She looked at Michel. He hadn't moved or shifted into a different position, of course. She rolled out of bed. She had an hour and 35 minutes to herself. She went and peed and then put on a little makeup.

Her stomach began to growl. She looked at the menu, desperately wanting pancakes. Luckily they served breakfast all day. She ordered her food and then turned on the TV. She sat there in the dark with just the TV going. It finally drove her crazy. The darkness of the hotel room drove her crazy. She felt alone in the dark, and she couldn't stand that feeling. She went around the hotel room and turned on every single light. The only place she didn't turn light's on was in Ash and Noah's room and Michel's room.

She heard someone knock on the door 10 minutes later. Eagerly about to swing the door open, she took a precaution and looked through the peep hole. He had food. She opened the door to retrieve her pancakes. She noticed how he looked at her suspiciously. She wondered why as she closed the door and walked toward the couch. She let it roll off as she watched mindless TV and drowned her pancakes with syrup.

She ate and was then happy. She sat and stared at the TV for a little while longer but finally got up. She made her way towards Ash and Noah's room. She opened their door, peaking in. She saw that Ash was tossing and turning. She was moaning in pain in her sleep. Kerry sighed to herself as she leaned even more onto the door, letting it open ever wider. There was nothing she could do for her. She couldn't help her, no matter how much she wanted too. Kerry let go of the door and stepped into the room, into the dark.

In that moment, an icy hand wrapped around her neck, and she was slammed into the wall, opposite of the two beds where Ash and Noah lie.

"How did you…get in?" she struggled to ask, slightly disoriented.

Then she saw his face through some of the light that poured from the hallway. He was the same guy she got her food from. She gasped at the recognition.

He restrained her hands above her head and arched her neck. "You're a guardian," she whispered, "Please don't. I'm with Michel and Ash and Noah…"

"Michel took your blood for some reason," he snarled.

"You mean you can tell…?" she asked trailing off.

He took no hesitation and leaned into her quickly and pierced right into her. She screamed out that very moment, fighting to get away from him, but he just held her steady. The experience when Michel did this and when this guardian did it were completely opposite. It hurt like hell. Tears came down from the extreme pain. Before he drained her, he threw her down, and he was gone.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	17. Change My Mind and You’ll Change Yours

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

**Sorry for the wait everyone! But here it is, finally :D **

Chapter 17: Change My Mind and You'll Change Yours

She huddled against the wall and cried, feeling helpless. She had placed her hand on the spot where he had bitten her, willing the pain to stop. But, the pain wasn't stopping. It felt like he was still in her. After 10 minutes of crying, she struggled to get up, dizzy from the pain and from her own crying.

_Could Michel make it hurt like this? I hope he never does. _

She stumbled through the hotel room, grabbing things to guide her so she didn't fall. She made it to the master bedroom, opening the door and stepping in. She shut the door behind her and locked it, as if THAT would stop the guardian.

She got next to Michel, resting her hand where she had been bitten and cried some more. She could feel her mascara running and her eyeliner smearing. She almost moved closer to Michel, but then hesitated. She instead scooted farther away from him. For the first out of a few times that she had known him in the three years, she was afraid of him. If she could, she would run.

But…

One: She was too weak at the moment.

Two: That guardian was out there somewhere, along with many other guardians that wanted her dead.

And three: She didn't think she really wanted to.

She had finally drifted off to sleep, curled up in a ball.

She was woken up though with a sharpness in her neck. The first thing she figured was that it was the pain in her neck. But it wasn't. She was no longer in a curled up little defensive ball. She had been pulled to the side so that she was lying on her back. And Michel was on top of her, feeding off of her. When she fully realized what was going on, she screamed for him to get off, flailing her arms. But he caught her hands with one of his and restrained them above her head. She whimpered as she pulled at her hands in a panic. He wasn't bruising her and he wasn't hurting her, but that wasn't what her mind was set on. He was feeding off of her without her permission and especially, after what had happened, you'd think he'd have more sense. When he finally pulled back, she fought with the last bit of strength she had, and he let go. She jumped off the bed, well it was more of a stumble, and she hit the wall. "Get away from me," she cried.

Tears fell from her eyes as she built up another crying frenzy. She put her hand on her neck and cried. Her knees became weak fast and she fell to the floor. She huddled in a ball and just cried out of fear and pain. A moment later, she felt cold arms wrap around her from behind. She screamed at the coldness of his touch. It was a touch of extreme pain. A touch of death. A touch that she didn't want to be touched by. "Shh, Kerry," Michel whispered gently, "It's alright."

He was rocking her back and forth. She struggled though, "No it's not!"

He stopped rocking and pulled her close and kissed her neck where she had been bitten. She cringed. "Calm yourself, Kerry," he cooed gently.

She felt his vampire powers on her. It was calming; she fought it for a moment, but then sacrificed herself into the calmness, too weak to fight it. And she became calm, just breathing deep breaths. She came to realize that the pain in her neck was gone. She felt a small tingle where she had been bitten, but not a hint of pain. "Is your neck better, Kerry?" he asked gently, but also sounded concerned. But it was more of an empty question to him. Her neck should be better now.

She leaned into him, "It hurt so bad," she whimpered.

"I know, Kerry. I know," he whispered to her.

He held her close as she calmed down even more. He then picked her up carefully. She put her head against his chest. He pulled her closer. They got out to the car, where he gently set her in the front seat. She was so unaware of her surroundings. She fell asleep again.

* * *

"What happened?" Noah asked as he got in the car with Ash.

"Fucking guardian," Michel mumbled as he started the car.

"What was a guardian doing there?" Noah asked surprised.

"I think that they're tracking her." Michel said grimly as he pulled out onto the main road.

"Then why did he let her live if they finally had her?" Noah asked, thinking out loud.

"Either because he was decent or because he just wanted her blood in general to go by to make tracking easier."

"What do you plan to do about it?"

"I'm going to fucking kill him," Michel threatened darkly as he tightened his grasp on the steering wheel.

* * *

Kerry woke up putting her hand on her neck where she had been bitten twice in just one night. But she didn't wake up in the car. She woke up on a bed in an unfamiliar room. She got up pulling the covers off. She hit a wooden floor and instantly realized that she was barefoot. She saw her shoes and slipped them on. She slowly walked to the door and peered out. It was set up just like a traditional house. As she stepped out of the room, Kerry could feel her heart pick up and be anything but calm. Someone was bound to hear her, and that frightened her—which made her heartbeat go faster.

She walked into a living room. It looked very homey. It looked decorated by a true-hearted southerner. She heard voices and she followed them to a closed door at the end of the living room. She opened the door to reveal a dark basement.

_I wonder if Michel is down there. Did I even want to see him at the moment?_

She took her first step down the dark stairs. And then a second step, taking her time and being cautious. By the fourth step, she was grabbed quickly by an icy hand. She screamed, startled and afraid as to who was grabbing her. "Kerry," the familiar voice said surprised.

She turned, "Michel…where are we?"

He didn't answer. He pulled her off the steps and closed the door, facing away from her. "I don't want you going down there."

Michel then pulled her and she willing went so he didn't have to drag her. They went out the open front door and onto the porch. She glanced around outside, seeing several, of what she was guessing, vampires. They had guns at hand and they were scattered along the property that looked to be out in the country, in the middle of nowhere. Her attention snapped back to Michel as he sat her down on a bench on the front porch. A vampire wasn't too far from them. Michel glared at him with a sharp look and the vampire walked away. "Kerry," Michel began as he sat down next to her.

She cut him off, being hesitant as she spoke, "Why did I wake up with you…I thought you would wait….maybe until my consent…"

He sighed as he looked at her, "I did that for two reasons. One, because I wanted to know the son of a bitch that touched you. And two, to make the bite mark stop hurting you. The bastard bit you so you would suffer till death. It would also heal painfully if he had decided to let you go, which he did."

She was about to ask something but he stopped her, placing two of his fingers lightly on her lips, which startled her a bit. She felt electricity run through that one light touch. He moved his fingers, letting them slip down to her chin, and then completely drawing back. The touch was so light; it tickled her just a little bit.

"The second I woke up, I immediately smelled your blood. I thought you hurt yourself or something like that. But…" he trailed for a moment thinking of her in this tight little ball, asleep. "I smelled a different scent on you and I have to say, I was outraged by the thought of another touching you like that. I was alarmed as well.

"I saw your memories. I saw your thoughts of last night and the play by play at the hotel; I saw who did this to you." He was looking at her sternly, "You never gave a thought of killing any of us when we were completely vulnerable," he sounded relieved when he said that.

Then he said distantly, "But, you were afraid of me…" he played with her hair as he spoke, "I know you're supposed to, with what I am. But, I decided I don't like that feeling towards me from you. So don't be afraid of me, Kerry."

"As long as you don't give me a reason…" she said softly, looking away.

He put his hand on her neck and rubbed it gently, "Is this a reason?"

She looked at him in his blue eyes, "Depends."

"On?"

"On how you do it. If you ever hurt me the way that guardian did…I…I don't know…"

He looked at her and leaned in, "I would never hurt you."

"Or kill me without my consent," she added.

He grinned at her, but for only a moment, His expression became soft. He leaned in even more, stroking her cheek. He leaned so his face was in hers. He hesitated for only a moment, but then kissed her deeply on the lips. She kissed him back as she wrapped her arms around him. He wrapped around her and pulled her closer to him. It was the most passionate kiss he had ever given her. Their tongues danced in each other's mouths and she pulled nearer to him. When their mouths parted, she tossed her head back. He kissed her up and down her neck all the way to her chest. She leaned her head on his shoulder, and he pulled her body up against his. He kissed her exposed neck. She clung to him tightly, thinking he was going to…

"I'm not," he whispered in her ear as if he was reading her mind.

He put his hand on the back of her head for support. He kissed the side of her head and played with her hair. His other hand stroked her back.

"Michel," she whispered, "I want to stay with you forever."

He was startled and pulled back slightly, "Do you mean…"

"Yes," she said softly and clung to him tightly.

"No." he said sternly.

She jumped, startled. She would have jumped away from him, but his grasp said otherwise.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	18. Stop Reading My Mind!

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 18: Stop Reading My Mind!

"But…" she started, shocked

"Well, at least not now. Not during this war, Kerry," Michel told her, cutting her off.

"I'll be fine," she persisted, pulling away from him and out of his grip, which he let her do.

"I'm sorry, not now," he said with finality in his tone

She was shocked. She changed her mind and now he doesn't want her.

"I _do_ want you, Kerry. Don't think like that."

She was startled, "I thought you couldn't read my mind."

"I can't," he said, "But, after taking your blood, I can hear your strong thoughts for about five hours, the most ten, and then it wears off."

"Oh…I didn't know," she said softly.

"Kerry?" Michel asked after a moment of silence.

"Yes?"

"You know it's only for your safety."

She just looked at him.

"Too many of my kind are being killed off right now. It's because of hunters. This has happened before…There will come a period of peace, but that will take a little under a century. By the time that peace comes, you will be dead," he stated blandly.

She really didn't like this.

"But," he said in a little lighter tone, "I'll be more than happy to change you when this thing calms a bit. That shouldn't take long."

"What about the guardians till then?"

"You know the guardian who left you without draining you?"

"How can I forget…?" she said putting her hand over her neck.

_I mean this did just happen today. So of course I do._

He gave her a look. She slightly blushed since she knew he just heard what she had thought.

"He let you go for a reason. He saw you with vampires and then saw your own thoughts on it, thoughts that didn't involve tricking my kind. He was a decent guardian. So he let you go."

The easiest thing was to lie to her, since he didn't know the guardians real intentions. Why would he take her blood for tracking if he had already tracked her? …He's seeing whose side she's on. Maybe there was some decency in him. But either way, he would wind up dead. No matter what.

"But you called him a…"

He cut her off, "That's because he wasn't decent enough to make the pain stop. He _knew_ you would be in pain." He pulled her closer.

"So you made it better?" she questioned, slightly confused.

He nodded.

"But…how?" trying to put it together in her mind, but not succeeding.

"Ah," he said softly, "How do I explain it to you…"

"How 'bout you just change me. I should understand then." She was half joking, half serious.

He gave her a look that told her 'don't go there', but then relaxed the look, "Vampire saliva has healing properties. I healed you…but in a different way. It's not a common healing to stop the pain of another bite mark made by another vampire _or_ guardian. Not every vampire or guardian can heal the way I healed you," he was struggling to explain this to her.

"Hm? How?" she was pushing him further just to see where it got her.

He sighed out of frustration and ran his hands threw his hair, but quickly stopped, "If you want to save somebody from pain like that…you have to…certain emotions come to play. If those emotions are present, then the person can be saved from the pain. It's complicated."

She looked at him curiously, leaning her head back so she could look at him fully, "Like, what kind of emotions?"

He didn't answer. He changed his expression so he showed no emotion. After a moment of silence he replied in a light tone, but it was also threatening, but not towards her, "I simply don't want anyone else taking your blood. I'm the only one who can do that."

She just looked at him; he returned the glance looking at her coolly now, "So you're possessive over me?"

"You can put it that way."

_No other reason? Not…love? _

Michel looked at her oddly. She blushed and pulled back further away from him. She knew he had heard that. She had lost control of her own thoughts. She began to rant in her own mind.

_So he kissed me, but doesn't love me. Well, that had to be a hell of a kiss for that to show love…Do I love him? I don't know. I haven't seen him in so long. But it feels like I've been with him forever. But the way he kissed me…The way he sounded like he cared. He doesn't care. I wanted to change, just for him. But maybe that's for the wrong reason. Stupid vampire emotions. He's leading me on, that bastard. That bastard that can hear every word that is racing through my mind… Oh, why is he looking at me like that? I can't help my own thoughts. Satan spawn _Michel gave her a surprised look. His emotion finally had changed—_Like I meant that! I'm running out of thoughts to cover the fact that I'm falling in love with him again. Oh shit. Well, that beat the total purpose. Did I love him then? Do I love him now? God! I gotta stop my thoughts. Say something you stupid vampire! Stop smiling! Don't laugh! _

Michel's lips curved upwards. He began to laugh at her, "I'm sorry, Kerry. It's hard not to laugh."

She shot up from the bench, red from embarrassment. She walked away from Michel and back towards the house, not looking back. Within a second, he was behind her. She felt his icy hands go down on her shoulders. He pulled her into him. She heard him laugh a little again. He bent down and kissed her neck. He was cold, which brought her shoulders up. "Stop," she said smiling as she pulled away.

She turned and looked at him. He was looking at her differently. It frightened her. Or did it calm her?

He laughed a small laugh, "Well, which is it, Kerry?"

He raised his eyebrows at her expectedly. She blushed. He made her blush. "Stop reading my mind."

"Stop making your blood taste so good," he shot back, looking at her with his soft blue eyes that told her nothing. But, he had a slight smile forming on his face.

She backed away from him, "Stop talking like that."

He grinned at her—it was more of a vampire grin then a friendly grin. He looked like her was ready to pounce on her.

Out of the blue, he stopped grinning and looked serious as he closed his eyes. Actually, she couldn't really think that this was out of the blue. His mood swings _were_ very unpredictable. She was about to say something, but he put his hand on her lips, still with his eyes closed.

A moment later, he jerked his head to the side, opening his now cold blue eyes. She wasn't looking at those blue eyes before. They had been way softer.

"What is it?" she squeaked as his hand slipped from her lips. He now had his hand rested on her throat, right over her pulse.

"Heartbeats," he said blandly as she studied him, not moving, "Vampire hunters no doubt. A lot of them."

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	19. Caught in the Middle

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 19: Caught in the Middle

"Come on," Michel said, grabbing Kerry's hand and pulling her towards the door that lead to the basement.

"What?" she asked surprised.

He pulled her down the dark stairs and she stumbled. She let shrieked, but he caught her. He slammed her into the wall. "Michel," she whispered out of fright with her heart pounding.

"Scream, Kerry. Scream like I was hurting you," he demanded, staring at her with so much intensity as he tightened his grasp around her wrist that he had grabbed after she had fallen.

"What?" she asked confused, not following his mood swings.

"Now!" he yelled as he hit his hand against the wall, right next to her head.

She jumped and took a breath and screamed. He then pulled her forward off the wall and pushed her down the rest of the few steps, with her almost twisting her ankle. When she got down to the bottom of the stairs, still moving forward and unable to stop herself, she stumbled right into another vampire. He grabbed her arms with a bruising tightness. Michel was in her face before she could even blink. His features were cold and he growled at her, "Vampire hunter."

She was now in tears and those tears hid her shock.

Another vampire opened the cell that was down in the basement, which she just now noticed and in fact had people in it as well. It had vampire hunter leaders in it, so she assumed.

Michel grabbed her tightly and the other vampire released his grip. She winced from the force of his grip. He pulled her towards him making it so that she was leaning back on him, her back facing him. He leaned her neck back so it was resting on his shoulder. _What the hell? _

He kissed her on her pulse and then said so softly, only she could hear or even tell he was talking, "Trust me."

He then shoved her hard and she hit the cell bars. She was grabbed again by another vampire and was shoved into the cell, the gate locking behind her. She turned around quickly only to see Michel walking away without even turning around to glance at her one last time. Stunned, she let what happen just sink in and wonder why the hell Michel was putting her here. She scanned the cell, looking at the other people that were being held in this tiny box. "What'd you do, try to trick them?" one of the girl vampire hunter's asked.

"Um…You could say that," Kerry replied, unsure of her own answer.

"Did they…" another asked, curious, as he stepped towards her and moved her hair to revel her neck. "They have," his tone was very grave.

She jerked her head back.

"Does that mean you're a vampire?" another asked.

Kerry snorted, "You think that makes me a vampire? They didn't drain me. If they did, I wouldn't have chosen. So no, I'm not a vampire."

"I'm glad you're safe, Kerry," she heard one of them say. But she recognized the voice.

She jerked her head to see her former leader standing there. He had some scraps and bruises. But most of all, he had a piece of cloth tied on his upper thigh. No doubt it was from when Michel stabbed him in the thigh.

"There is so much you neglected to tell us," he continued.

She just glared at him.

"And now that it seems you failed in _whatever _it was that you were doing, I'm assuming you can explain?" the leader went on, demanding.

"I'm not explaining anything to you," Kerry spat at him.

Before he could protest, they all heard gunfire. Kerry jumped, turning to where the gunfire most likely came from, up the stairs in the main house. "Sounds like they're here," one said, "Don't worry, they have silver bullets. We'll be out of this in no time."

Kerry turned again as she rolled she eyes. She looked out of the cell, scanning the basement. She stopped to look at one of the vampires that was closest to the cell. She just shook her head a little. The vampire looked at her, gazing at her with his cold, emotionless eyes. She sighed and slightly shook her head again and turned away. She sat down on the bench that no one was sitting at and waited for something to happen, avoiding her former leader's glares.

After about 30 long minutes, she heard someone coming down the stairs. There were about 5 vampires down here, so if it was a hunter, they didn't stand a chance. But then she saw something come into play. As hunters came from the stairs, the hunters in the cell busted open the gate. She was grabbed and pulled up by one of the hunters.

_Great. Now I'm gonna get dragged by these losers._

"Let's go, Kerry!" it was her former leader again.

They shot silver bullets into the vampires. But the vampires still lunged at the hunters. One of them was grabbed, and the rest made it up the stairs. Kerry knew the vampires would be okay, and the hunter they just grabbed wouldn't be.

Kerry stopped at the top of the stairs. Michel wasn't kidding when he said there would be a lot of hunters. The poor home that was nice and homey was now all bloody and wrecked. She was yanked to the side and they were about to go out the back door. A group of vampires surrounded them. "Going somewhere?" a vampire asked with a vampire grin, his tone menacing.

"Uh…not really…they are," Kerry said pointing to the hunters.

"Kerry!" she heard in her former leader's voice betrayal.

"I don't want to get killed!" she yelled at him.

"They'll kill you anyways!" he shot back.

Just as he finished saying that, a vampire swiftly came over and grabbed Kerry by her shirt. He slammed her into the wall and began to sniff her up and down her neck. "You're Michel's," he snarled at her.

Her hair was all in her face and she replied frightened, "Yeah, you could say that."

He snarled again and threw her to the side. "Run!" one of the hunters yelled.

"Don't you dare!" the vampire growled.

"Okay," she squeaked weakly.

She pressed her back against the wall with her heart pounding. She was standing there watching the vampires and the vampire hunters she was just with. She knew the vampires were about to kill the hunters. As she waited, a body was thrown towards the wall from the crowd. She screamed bloody murder when she saw he was dead and bloody. One of the vampires from the side shot a sharp glance at her. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him. She glanced to the side to see the body hadn't moved. He was really dead. The vampire pushed her up against the wall. He gave her a look, "Don't scream again, you understand?"

She nodded in fright and he let her go. She realized that she was hyperventilating. She walked to the back door and went out. One of the vampires watched her walk out, but was no longer worried about her if she was another's. Still breathing in deeply, Kerry jumped off the porch and ended up puking. She fell in the grass that was slightly wet from late night dew. She doesn't like death. She doesn't like blood. How the hell was she to change into a vampire if she hated death _and_ blood? She would never make it as a stupid vampire.

Just then, she heard some people running. It was vampire hunters, she could tell. They had a vampire with them. She jumped up into their view. One of them pointed a gun at her and squinted to get a better look at her. "You're Kerry, aren't you?"

She nodded, unsure.

"Get in! We could use another hunter."

_Great. More hunters._

She got in. What was she thinking? One of them handed her a gun. Okay, so they had one vampire and three vampire hunters. Well actually, one vampire, one vampire helper, and two vampire hunters who were completely clueless. And she was in the back with the vampire. The other two were up front.

They drove for about 20 minutes when she finally looked at the vampire, who was all bloody. He even looked like he had a slight concussion. Her heart pounded as she looked at him. And then she realized that he was about to break the handcuffs any moment. He knew she saw. He jerked his head towards her way, giving her a threatening look. Did he know she wondered, that she wasn't a vampire hunter? Maybe he could smell Michel on her. Of course he could. Everyone else could.

They broke and he quickly grabbed her gun and shot the passenger guy. She screamed, startled to hear gunfire. "Drive!" he commanded the driver as he snaked his arm around Kerry. "And as for you," he shot a glance at her. He grabbed her wrist.

She knew what he was going to do, "Don't you dare!" she said sternly.

She kicked him in the leg, knowing he didn't really feel it.

"Why shouldn't I?" he snarled.

"Because, I only let Michel do that." she said sternly, narrowing her eyes on him.

She saw a grin come on his face.

"Stupid vampire," she muttered as she turned and ran her hands through her hair.

"Where do you want me to drive to?" a shaky voice up front asked.

"Turn around and go back to the house. NOW!" he replied sternly. "Now," the vampire said turning towards her again, "Kerry, is it?"

She nodded, as she turned to look at him through narrowed eyes again.

"Now tell me, Kerry, what is it that Michel sees in you?"

She turned away from him again. She heard him laugh at her. She turned to give him a sharp look. But his attention was diverted. "This doesn't look like the way," he said sternly, putting the gun to the driver's head, "Better start to get in the right direction."

"Go ahead," he replied shaking, "Kill me. I'm not helping a monster like you."

"Then I'll kill her," he said as he grabbed her and exposed her neck, "Painfully. You'll get to bear witness to her tragic death."

"Don't you dare!" she yelled.

He grabbed her tightly till it hurt. "Alright!" the driver gave in, "Don't hurt her. Don't touch her. I'll go wherever you want."

The vampire pulled back.

Ten minutes later, a car approached. The vampire yelled an order, "Stop the car!"

He did.

"Get out of the car and stay near the car, unless you want her to be killed.

If you run, she'll die."

He nodded nervously as he got out. Then the vampire got out. He shoved the hunter in the back with her and she heard a click sound. The vampire turned on the child locks. The vampire swerved the car and drove after the car. "Who's in the other car?" she asked.

"Hunters along with two of my kind," he said looking at her from the rearview mirror.

After a few minutes of silence, she saw the hunter pull out a gun and gave her a signal to keep quiet. She's not sure what kicked into her, but instinctively, she took her arm and whammed her elbow into his face, hitting his nose. He fell back and hit the window. The vampire was alarmed and turned back to see what was going on. She quickly grabbed the gun and unloaded it. The vampire raised his eyebrows at her. He put his hand back, waiting for her to give him the gun. She did willingly.

"Why the hell did you do that? You're on our side!" the hunter yelled at her as he tried to stop the bleeding with just his hand.

"Shut up!" the vampire yelled, "Kerry, give her your hand."

"No!" she said shocked, "I know exactly what you are going to do, so no."

"I don't want it for your blood in particular; I just want to be able to…"

"Read my mind?" she said as she cut him off.

He gave her a sharp look, "So he told you?"

"Yes…I sort of figured it out, but yes, he told me."

"God, Kerry, I'm not going to hurt you."

She snorted, "That's what he said the first time I had figured out he was a vampire."

"If I killed you, Michel would kill me."

"I don't let anyone else take my blood _except_ him."

"Too bad," he shot back as he grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward. Before she could do anything, he was massaging her wrist. "Come on, Kerry, relax, will you?"

"If you were Michel, I'd have no problem with this."

He laughed a little; she tried to jerk back when his lips went to her wrist. Just as he did that, the vampire hunter practically jumped on her. She fought him off, realizing she had her wrist back, unmarked. She also realized that the car had swerved and stopped; the vampire pulled him off of her. The vampire then got out of the car and towards the hunters side and dragged him out of the car. The hunter clasped onto her ankle and dragged her out with him. She skinned her knee as she hit the pavement. He finally was forced to let go. As she tried to stop the bleeding, she heard gunfire and she jumped. The vampire came back around and looked down at her. She saw a grin form and he knelt down next to her. "Prefect," he muttered.

He pulled her leg towards his mouth and she had to catch herself from falling backwards with her hand. She sighed, knowing what he was about to do, and she lay on the pavement. He sucked from the small scrap. She could feel his canines scraping against her skin and she winced, trying to jerk away. He didn't do that too long and finished off by licking her knee, which felt the weirdest. He pulled back after that and said rather cheerfully, "There we go, all better."

He dropped her leg and stood up as Kerry just glared at him, knowing he had dug into the cut for her blood. She glanced down at her knee, seeing unmarred skin. She then remembered what Michel had said about vampires and healing properties.

"So he told you that too?" he asked as he pulled her up from the pavement.

She sighed, "Great, now you can read my mind."

He gave her a vampire grin as he opened the front passenger door for her and closed the back seat door. She got in the passenger seat, trying to mind her thoughts, which she found hard to do.

_He had killed that hunter. I hope he doesn't kill me_.

With that thought, she heard him laugh. "I'm not going to kill you, Kerry," he paused for a moment, "Unless you ask me to."

She shot a glance at him.

"I already know that you asked Michel and he had said 'no'. But I'll do it. Right here. Right now."

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	20. Dead Man's Blood

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 20: Dead Man's Blood

_**He had killed that hunter. I hope he doesn't kill me. **_

_With that thought, she heard him laugh. "I'm not going to kill you, Kerry," he paused for a moment, "Unless you ask me to." _

_She shot a glance at him. _

_"I already know that you asked Michel and he had said 'no'. But I'll do it. Right here. Right now." _

"Are you serious?" Kerry asked unsure.

"Serious?" he mimicked amused, "As about as serious as a vampire needs blood."

She turned away from him. She could feel him read her thoughts.

"I see," he said as he pulled off the road, leaving two dead bodies in the middle of nowhere.

She looked at him. He was no longer looking at her, but at the road, "And you respect that?" she asked shocked.

"Of course. Like I said earlier, 'Michel would kill me if I killed you.'"

She turned back towards the window, wondering where they were going.

"We're following the car. I'm following the sound of the heartbeats."

"I knew that. Stop reading my mind."

She saw a vampire grin form on his face. She sighed and faced the window once again. There was nothing but silence. She looked at the clock. It was only a little past ten.

_Damn. They still had plenty of time before sun up. If I were a hunter, and I knew the location of all those vampires, I would have come closer to sun up, but not wait so long that they all left._

"That would have been the smart thing. But they were just worried about their buddies we had, which are now all dead."

"Why am I not surprised?"

She heard him laugh a little.

Five minutes later, he began to speed up. They were going 90mph on a 55mph speed limit zone. She felt nausea come on. The combination of speed and the fact that she was sitting in the exact spot a guy was who was now dead just made her head spin.

_God, I hope there is no blood on the seat. I hope I don't puke. _

The vampire gave her an anxious look and his speed went down to 80 mph.

_A whole 10mph decrease. Yay! _

Her own sarcastic thoughts.

He didn't give her a look or anything for them either. "Please don't…" he began.

"I'll try not…" she said as she leaned forward.

"We're almost there," he reassured.

"Uh…" she just said taking deep breaths in.

Ten minutes later, they came to a halt. She opened her door and puked. She could feel him just giving her a look. She heard him load the gun. Next thing you know, he was on her side of the car. "Eek," he said looking down at the road. "Come on."

She stepped over her own puke and he grabbed hold of her wrist. They walked for about half a mile. Then they took the entrance in the back of the building. He still had grip on her, not letting her go. He stopped when they both began to hear voices clearly. She saw him close his eyes. Then he opened them. "Stay here," he ordered her.

"But…" she began to protest.

He held his hand up for her to stop talking and began to walk ahead of her. When he disappeared out of sight, she heard gunfire and a few crashes. Being her normal self, Kerry began to walk the path the other vampire did, putting herself in danger for her own curiosities sake. But the moment she looked into the room, she saw the vampire get stabbed with dead man's blood. She gasped. She was about to run as fast as possible out of there, but a man saw her and the next thing she knew, she was yanked into the room. That was when the vampire she was with lunged forward towards her. He grabbed the hunter's head, the one who had hold of Kerry. He snapped his neck just like that and Kerry instantly felt sick again. The vampire was grabbed again and thrown back before he could do anything else. One of the hunters got a knife that dripped with dead man's blood and stabbed him in between the shoulder blade. This time he cried out.

Kerry stood there in horror as they stabbed him repeatedly, forgetting all about her in that moment. He cried out and yelled out over and over again. Kerry stepped back, scared and at a loss. That was when she realized just how many vampires they had with them. They had three. And that was a lot, considering their strength. Kerry took note of the pile of bodies that were probably hunters from the struggle they had. As her eyes scanned the room, that's when she saw him. Her vampire. Her Michel. She wanted to scream and run to him in that very moment. Time stopped for her and she could feel her heart rate pick up and beat wildly. She got her adrenaline rush, and she whipped around, screaming at the hunters, "STOP IT!"

They turned slightly to look at her startled by her outburst, "Why? Think of all the people they have killed. Just they wait till the sun." he said in a deadly manner.

"The sun?" she shrieked. "They didn't torture the hunters…er...us like that! Not like this!"

One of them lunged at her and grabbed her, "Have they bewitched you?"

"What?" she screamed.

"Or maybe they have turned you unwillingly and…well if that be the case, it simply will not do."

He took the knife dripping in dead man's blood. She shrieked and pulled back. He cut her down her arm. She screamed, and she watched her blood ooze out, horrified. The wave of pain crashed on her. He let her wrist go and she dropped to the floor, "What are you, crazy?" she shrieked.

She pressed her arm with her free hand against the deep cut to try to stop the bleeding. It was very ineffective since the cut was longer than her hand could cover. He had sliced her right down her arm deeply. Her hand was soon drenched in her own blood. He bent down and yanked her arm. He inspected the cut he made as she winced. "Nope, it's not bubbling. She's not a vampire," he concluded.

"Do I look like a vampire?" she shrieked again.

"Maybe it doesn't affect her…" another suggested, "Or maybe you didn't put enough blood in her."

Kerry's eyes widened and began to scoot back. Another grabbed her and she shrieked, helpless. They sliced her other arm. She screamed. She was uncontrollably crying as they dropped her back to the ground. Just then, the front door flew open. Afraid it was more hunters, she began to crawl away. She was stopped by a hand though. "Leave me alone!" she screamed, trying to get the energy to fight, but wasn't succeeding.

That hand lifted her up bridal style as she began to writhe and pull away. He had a good grip on her, so it was pointless. She then came to her senses. She saw one of the other men that she hadn't seen before kill the man that had just stabbed her. These men were killing the hunters. She glanced around, seeing a few others pick up the vampires. She then glanced up at who had hold of her. He had dark hair with red tips that fell past his chin. That's all she could see of him, because he wasn't looking at her, he was looking straight ahead. All she could tell was that he looked very stern and serious. "Who are you?" she asked trembling from blood loss.

He didn't answer. He glanced for a brief moment at her, but then back up. The next thing she knew, they were outside. She was set in the back seat along with the vampires. The man who was carrying her gave her a towel, but never said word to her. She glanced at the towel for a moment, but then began to wrap her arms in it, trying to stop the bleeding.

She looked behind her where there were more seats. She saw Michel. He was cut all over. "Michel!"

She thought it was going to come out louder, but it came more out in a whisper. "Michel?" she said again, crying some more. She unwrapped one arm from the towel, reaching her hand for him, but pulled back from pain.

The car then jerked forward.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	21. Bleeding Out the Wounds

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 21: Bleeding Out the Wounds

After driving for 20 minutes, Kerry felt a cold hand touch her arm from behind. "Alright, Kerry, who took your blood? I'll kill the bastard." Michel stated calmly and not as weak as Kerry would have thought.

She swerved around the moment she heard his voice, "Michel? What…But I thought…"

He grinned, "I'll be fine, Kerry. I'm more worried about you then me."

"But…You're hurt."

"I can take a little dead man's blood. Can you?" he gave her a piercing stare.

She turned around completely to look at him, "Lay back down and get better. Stop lying." she said reaching out to push him back.

He grabbed her arm and studied it. She winced from the pressure. He noticed and let go. "When I smelled your blood and the amount of it, I was slightly alarmed."

"Wait…You were unconscious though."

"No I wasn't!" he persisted, "Now the other guy with me was, but come on, you know I'm stronger than that."

"You're also a liar. You look like you're in pain to me."

He grinned at her again.

"That is so fake." she said looking straight at him.

His grin faded and he became serious, "Kerry, how did you end up here if I put you in the cell downstairs."

She rolled her eyes, "They broke out, duhh."

He gave her a serious look and a cold stare. "You shouldn't have been there. You should have stayed at the house. And you _will _tell me how you made it all the way here."

"I…" she began, "It just happened."

He was glaring at her. She pulled back and turned to face the front. His hand snaked around and he put his hand around her neck lightly. She looked down at his arm and noticed that the dead man's blood was bubbling.

_Didn't that hurt? _

"Yes it does, Kerry, it hurts very badly." Michel said.

She was startled. He could still read her thoughts.

"Yes, I can still read your thoughts."

She would turn around to look at him, but his grip around her neck kept her in the same stiff position. "Then why aren't you like Ash?"

"First of all, I can take more of that stupid blood because I'm stronger and because I'm stronger then Ash, also, to be totally honest with you, I pretended to become unconscious just so they'd stop."

She was going to say that was the cowards way out, but then she realized that would be mean and what he did was rather smart.

"It was rather smart, wasn't it?"

She could feel his eyes pierce through her. Either he ignored the coward thought, or he didn't hear it.

"Oh, I did hear it, Kerry. But you would have done it too if you felt how painfully this can be if _you_ were vampire."

"Yeah, and I would if you had said 'yes,'" she shot back, forcing his hand to turn so she could look at him.

"It wouldn't have happened at all if you just stayed where you belonged."

She just stared back at him.

He began to lean back as he said as though as he was totally fine, "I would heal you, Ker, but I can't."

She just continued to look at him, "So are you pretending to be fine for me or for everyone else in the car?"

He looked at her coolly as she studied his eyes. She noticed every so often, a flash of pain went through his eyes, but he immediately recovered and hid it. "These guys would understand if I cried out every so often. You wouldn't. You flipped when Ash did. I'd certainly hate to see you if I did it."

_Translation please? He doesn't want me to see him weak. _

He still looked at her, not flinching. "Anyways, I knew someone was going to come. Mind you, I wasn't really expecting you, but guardians."

"Wait, they're guardians?" she whispered, sounding alarmed.

Michel laughed a little and leaned towards her, "They can still hear you, Kerry."

She blushed a little as he leaned back again and laughed at her again. "But why did they? You said they wanted to kill me because of…"

He didn't really cut her off, she just stopped herself. He smirked at her for a moment, but then went serious, "Kerry," he had a small attitude hidden in his tone; "They cut you twice down the arm deeply with dead man's blood thinking you were a vampire."

She turned away from his eyes.

"You alright?" he asked, being gentle now.

She looked back at him.

"Don't lose too much blood on me, now," he warned her playful.

She smiled weakly at him.

"That isn't so convincing, Kerry," he said to her, piercing her with his eyes.

He was leaning towards her, but then flinched backwards. It startled her. "Are you alright," she asked alarmed.

"Yes," he struggled to say, "Just a small pain."

_Small pain my ass._

He let out a painful gasp, no longer looking at her.

She looked at him for a moment, wanting to help, but knowing she couldn't. She jerked forward and held her own tears. If Michel was going to try to be strong for her, then she needed to try to be strong for him. She heard Michel snort behind her, "This is a little more than trying, Kerry."

She glared at him for a moment then sighed and turned back around. If he wanted to play tough guy, he was welcome to. She got that fact that he was doing it for her, but still.

It wasn't a silent rid at all. Every now and then, Michel let out a painful gasp, but that was it. The other one was droning moans every few minutes. The vampire who had gone in with her wasn't too bad of shape, but still let out gasps of pain more frequently then Michel. She sat there trembling from blood loss, afraid.

Finally, they came to a halt. The guardians got out of the car and helped the three vampires. Michel refused help and stumbled out of the car. As a guardian held her steady, she watched Michel try to make it on his own to the house and sighed to herself.

_He's not doing it for me; he's doing it because of his pride._

Michel shot a sharp glance at her, hearing that, no doubt. She just shook her head as the guardian led her to the house.

They got into the house. Michel stumbled inside she just rolled her eyes at him. The three other vampires were taken somewhere else in the house. She was led to a bathroom and the guardian pulled her in. "Wash out those two cuts. Go ahead and take a shower. Try your best to wash them out. Under the sink is some hydrogen peroxide. Use it. When you're done, just come out."

She nodded and he left.

Kerry stood there for a moment alone in the bathroom. She reached over and locked the bathroom door. She scanned the shower, seeing that it had a new bar of soap, shampoo and conditioner. She knelt down and got out the hydrogen peroxide and set it on the edge of the tub. As she began to lift her shirt over her head, she tried her best not to get blood on it. That was a wasted effort. As the shirt fell to the floor, she knew it was ruined for good. She finished getting undressed and then climbed in the tub. She turned on the cold water to let it run over her arms. She sat there as she did this. Her blood mixed with the water as it went down the drain. She flinched, pulling her arms away from the water a few times, only to find out that they felt somewhat better under the cool water. She tried her best to relax and held her flinching inside. She reached over and grabbed the new bar of soap and began to wash out both large cuts. It hurt like hell as she lathered both up, but she knew there was more pain to come. After she washed out all the soap, she opened the new bottle of hydrogen peroxide and poured it on each of her arms. She bit her lip and closed her eyes as a new wave of pain took over her. She hoped that the bleeding had stopped or at least slowed down by now.

Kerry finally began to turn the warm water on and got the temperature to how she wanted. She turned the shower on, jumping forward away from the freezing water, waiting for the water to warm up. She took the bar of soap and began to wash herself. She came right back to her arms. They were now really sore. But she put more soap on them. As blood mixed with water went down the drain, Kerry wasn't even sure if it was her blood or dead man's blood. As she watched the red water go down the tub, she figured it was really most likely a mixture of the two.

She touched her wet hair to discover that in some places, her hair was stuck together, like she had accidently got maple syrup in her hair. But that wasn't it. It was even worse than being a slob while eating breakfast food. It was blood. Even worse than that, she didn't know if it was her blood or somebody else's. She began to vigorously shampoo her hair, trying to get the blood out. She rinsed her hair and she began to feel her hair, trying to find any dry spots that she may have missed. But she decided to shampoo again, just in case. After that she put conditioner in her hair and she let that set. While she let conditioner sit in her hair, she washed her arms out with soap again. She rinsed that off. She let herself slide to the floor of the shower, grabbing the hydrogen peroxide. She poured it down her arms again, taking a sharp breath in from the pain. 

She moved her arms out of the way so that water wouldn't hit her arms. She just sat there and watched the peroxide bubble up. As a child, she vaguely remembered her mom doing this for her when she fell. She told her it was better than alcohol because she could watch the bubbles. It had entertained her then and it was now, but certainly not as much.

After a couple of minutes, she washed both arms again and began to wash them with soap again. The two large gashes in her arms still continued to bleed. She decided to soak them some more and then pour more peroxide on them. Once she was soaking her arms for just about a minute, she heard the door open. It then locked again since it was locked in the first place. But does that stop them? No, of course not. She heard the toilet seat being set down. "How you doing, Ker?"

She sighed in relief to the sound of Michel's voice. He sounded like he was in pain, but he was covering it up pretty well.

"Kerry?" he questioned when she didn't respond after a few moments.

"Yeah?" she said warily.

"You are alright, aren't you? I smell a lot of your blo—"

"I'm fine," she persisted cutting him off. She winced as she poured more peroxide on her arms.

"No you're not." Michel said sternly.

"Stop reading my mind," she whined. But it was an unintentional whine. It came out in a mix of pain rather than annoyance.

"I'm not," he said surprised.

She was just as surprised, "What?"

"I can't anymore. It wore off…"

"Oh…seriously?" She wanted to make sure he just wasn't lying to her again.

"Yeah, Kerry, seriously…Why are you doing that again?"

She thought he meant pestering, but she was wrong.

"We have more if you want…"

"Oh," finally realizing what he was talking about, "I don't want to use all of it…"

Next thing you know, he rips the curtain open. She brought her knees to her chest, blushing. He had at hand, another bottle of hydrogen peroxide. He sighed, seeing the blood running down her arms and down the drain. He bent down and studied her arm that was in reach. He picked up her arm and grabbed a towel and began to dab dry her arm. He pulled her arm to his mouth, but hesitated. As he hesitated, she studied him. "It's alright," she said pulling back her arm, "I get it. I don't want you hurt anymore than you already are."

He gently put her arm down and turned so he was sitting on the floor with his back against the tub. She saw him wince. He was still in pain.

"Michel…" she began.

He stood up and then closed the curtain. "Go ahead and finish, Kerry."

She heard him sit down on the toilet seat again.

She finally rinsed out her hair and finished washing both arms. She must have washed each of them at least seven times. It hurt just as much every single time too.

She grabbed her towel after she turned the water off. She opened the curtain to find that Michel was still there, waiting. He wasn't looking at her. He was just starring at the ground. She stepped out of the tub and began to walk by him. He reached out and grabbed her hand, stopping her. She turned towards him making sure her towel wouldn't fall. He put another towel on the arm that he had hold of. She saw that he had bandages out on the counter. He pulled her down gently. She sat on the floor, conscious of her towel. She figured he noticed because he stopped patting her arm dry. "Go get dressed, Kerry," he said quietly as he let go of her arm. "I brought you one of my shirts. It's kinda big on you, but you're welcome to wear it."

She looked at him after looking at the shirt. He wasn't looking at her. She then felt safe enough to put the shirt on, letting her towel drop. It was kind of big and dropped to the middle of her thighs. It smelled like him though. She liked that. She then went to her pants, noticing the blood on it. She got her underwear and put that on, sighing at the fact that her pants were probably ruined for good; a complete waste of a cute outfit. When she looked back up, he was looking right at her with no expression. She turned and blushed a little, for just the thought of him looking at her made her blush. He waved her back over and she sat back down giving him her arm. He wrapped a towel around that one and then grabbed her other arm and patted that one dry. He studied her arm for a moment. And then he sighed, standing up, "The cut's too deep for just a bandage. You need stitches."

He pulled Kerry up, who was looking at him bewildered, "Are you saying we need to go to the hospital?"

He gave a small laugh and then said, "No, I can do them."

She looked at him unsure, "You know how to do stitches?"

"It's just like sewing. Come on." He pulled gently on her arm for her to follow, and she did.

He led her into a bedroom. "Stay here. I'll be right back."

She nodded as he walked out.

Kerry walked over and turned on the light and sat on the bed, sighing. Michel came back a few minutes later. He sat down next to her, letting things in his hands fall on the bed. He poured a little bit of alcohol in a small bowl and set it on the nightstand. He then picked up a needle and threaded through some thread. Kerry just watched him silently as he did all this. He dipped the needle in the small bowl of alcohol. He pulled it out after a moment and shook it a little. He turned towards Kerry, "Alright, Kerry, you ready?"

"Um…"she began unsure.

"It's gonna hurt, but not as bad as what you've already been through tonight."

She finally nodded as Michel took her arm and dabbed it with a towel once again. He then let the needle go into her, and Kerry took a sharp intake. He began to stitch her arm up in such a way, as if he had done it a million times before. Kerry sat there, trembling as he finished her first arm. He made a knot with the thread and broke the rest of the thread.

"Let me see your other arm," Michel said.

Kerry switched arms and studied Michel's handy work as he dipped the needle in the alcohol again. He dabbed off her arm that he was getting ready to stitch up. Kerry let out a small cry this time when Michel put the needle into her arm. But he didn't look up at her. He was too 

focused on getting the stitches done so he could get the needle out of her. And when he was finally done and had made a good knot, he looked up at her to study her. She had a few tears in her eyes. "You alright?" Michel asked, breaking the silence.

She looked at him and slowly nodded.

He sighed a little and then stood up. "Okay, I'm done with your stitches. Now all I need to do is bandage you up." Michel was glancing down at the nightstand and then picked up a small medicine bottle. "Here," he said, handing it to her, "Take two of these."

She just looked at him blankly.

"It's a painkiller. It will help with the pain. Trust me."

She did trust him, obviously. She just let him stick a needle in her. She slowly reached for it and took two out. He handed her a bottle of water and sat down next to her. She took the two pills as Michel swept her hair away from her face. He softly kissed her cheek and murmured, "You're going to be okay."

She felt comforted being next to him and leaned slightly into him. She looked up at him and she found him staring at her intently. He pulled away after a moment and got into the middle of the bed. He began to pick up a bandage. He looked up at her, "Come over here," he said in a quiet voice.

She scooted over to him so that she was in front of him. He gestured for her to give him her arm. She got comfortable and gave him an arm to bandage up. He began to bandage her up. She flinched, yanking her arm back, but not purposely. "Too tight?" he asked lightly looking straight at her.

"Just a little," she said, sort of looking up at his glance down on her.

She thought she saw a grin flicker, but he then turned his attention back to her arm and he loosened the bandage. When he was done with that one, he began on her other arm. She studied the bandaging on her arm. It wasn't bad at all. It looked like a professional had done it. He was soon done with her other arm. She looked at him, studying his eyes, and trying to figure out if there was emotion hidden in them somewhere. She almost jumped when she saw a flicker of pain flash in his eyes. He noticed. "Michel," she began, but he put his finger on her lips.

He looked at her for one more moment before saying to her, "You should sleep, Kerry."

Kerry could feel his powers affect her, and she tried to shake it off. "Stop it," she whispered, not wanting to sleep yet.

Surprisingly, he did.

Kerry decided to lay down anyways though. She got on the other side of the bed and laid down. She felt the bed shift slightly and she knew Michel had laid down not too far from her.

Silence filled the air as Kerry brought her legs up, cold. She wanted to be under the blanket. She sat back up. She looked over at Michel who was just staring back at her with his cold blue eyes, which startled her a bit. He was laying on his side. Forgetting about the blanket for a moment, she saw the clock. She looked back at Michel who hadn't moved. "It's only midnight," she commented. "Why are we just laying here?"

He didn't respond. He just stared back at her.

"Shouldn't we be out doing something?" she continued with her questions.

No emotion. No movement. "Kerry," he started out slowly, "I'm useless and so are you. I've got dead man's blood painfully running through my veins. I'm lucky I can walk. Both of your arms are deeply wounded. We're useless at the moment."

She began to turn away, but he stopped her. She found herself looking at him. His eyes had softened. He was giving her the same look back at the house before they were interrupted. It was a look he had never given her. She never got a chance to figure out if that look in his eyes calmed her or frightened her. "Kerry, come here," he said so gently.

She laid back down and moved towards him. She then turned so her back was to him. She felt cold arms come around her and she shivered a little. He pulled the hair out of her face and began to play with her hair. He was looking down at her, smiling. "You've changed, Kerry. You've gotten even more beautiful from when I last saw you," he said it so gently, so seductively, "I'm more than glad that you came back." He bent down and kissed her on the cheek.

She closed her eyes, feeling his coldness. "You're trying to make me go to sleep…" she said in a sleepy voice, still with her eyes closed.

"I am. Just sleep, Kerry. You need it." He put his head on her shoulder.

"I want the blanket," she said in barely a whisper.

Michel pulled back up and pulled the blanket down. Kerry, now sleepy, got up and let Michel pull the blanket from under her. She laid back down, Michel still letting his powers work to make her sleep. He covered her up. He got under the covers with her as well, wanting to be close. He pulled her closer to him just as she fell asleep.

**Review? **

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	22. Keira’s Changing

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

**OMG! Guess who's finally like updating?? Sorry for the wait everyone. Enjoy! **

Chapter 22: Keira's Changing

Michel watched her as she slept. After about 30 minutes of just laying there, letting the Dead Man's blood run through his veins painfully, Adam walked in. Michel glanced up at him and then slowly moved out of the bed, trying his best not to wake Kerry. But his small stir and his cold body leaving her warm body woke her. She didn't move as she began to hear voices.

"How are you doing, Michel?" she heard a deep voice, but it was in a husky whisper.

"I'll be fine. I'm actually more worried about Kerry. I don't think she realized that she was in shock. When she wakes up, she'll be lucky if she can move her arms without wincing. And I can't risk healing her."

"We already have three guardians here with us. It's going to be a big risk. We have so many of us here. Sure she won't backstab us?"

Michel sounded surprised, "Adam, I already told you I trust her. Anyways, I've fed from her twice already. I would know." He paused and then said, "She wants to change."

"Change? Into us?" the surprise in his tone was evident.

"Yes, she asked earlier tonight."

"And…" he pushed, expecting more.

"And I told her no, not yet."

"She _could _just ask anybody else," he pointed out.

"She won't," he said firmly. He paused and his voice became distant, glancing at Kerry, "I don't want anything to happen to her."

That set off Kerry's heart. He was sounding so sweet and protective to her. But she felt Adam and Michel's eyes on her. As she felt a small movement again on the opposite side of the bed, she heard the door open and close. Arms wrapped around her before she could move. She turned her head to look at him. "Were you here the whole time I was asleep?" she asked.

He just nodded, looking at her with his blue eyes that were showing off just a little bit of emotion. "How are you feeling?" he asked her gently, brushing his hand over her cheek.

"Been better," she replied.

She saw a grin form on his perfect lips. She leaned into him more, putting her head on his shoulder. He put a hand on the back of her head for support, making her shiver a bit. She slightly looked up to find he was looking down at her, a smile playing across his lips. In that moment, it was Heaven. There was a perfect silence between them as he held her in his arms with such care. She didn't want it to end. He took his other hand from her waist and softly stroked her cheek. He then leaned in and lightly kissed her hot forehead with his cold lips. But after that one small kiss, he jerked his head to the window, leaning up now. She pulled back, startled by his sudden movement. He let her slip through his cold hands. She looked at his face, seeing it from the side. She could see his eyes had turned cold and hard.

_Does he show emotion just for me?_

He got up from the bed in such a fast movement it once again startled her. After putting on her pants, trying her best to ignore the fact that there was blood on them, most of it not even her blood, but some stupid dead guys, hence the name, 'dead man's blood', she followed Michel 

outside of the bedroom and into the living room. Several other vampires stood with clenched fists, staring at the front door.

She heard a car pull up. "One heartbeat, but there's more following. Is it a trap?" one vampire wondered out loud.

There was a frantic knock at the door. Someone opened to door to find a girl in her early 20ites shaking in the doorway.

"Help me, please," the girl said.

"Keira," Michel said, surprised.

Kerry jerked her head towards him, looking at him. Michel had his arm around her, pulling her close.

"Jess," Keira breathed, sounding relieved.

Kerry was still looking at Michel, now wondering if he could pass off as a Jess. It was certainly better than Ethan.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Can I come in? They're after me."

"Yeah, come in. Who's after you?"

She came in and walked towards Michel and Kerry, "Vampire hunters."

They all seemed surprised, but hid it. Michel sounded amused and skeptical, "Vampire hunters?"

"Yes! They found out the reason why she joined!"

"The reason why you joined?" Michel asked calmly.

_How does he do that?_

"Yes! I joined to find a vampire so I could become one." Keira confessed.

Michel grinned, being silent.

"You think I'm crazy, don't you?" she asked, exasperation in her voice.

Michel kept his grin planted on his face, "No, I don't. It's just that, well, you've come to the right place."

"Wait, you're a…everyone here is a…" she dodged glances around the room.

"A vampire? Yes, Keira, everyone except for the guardians, who are just like vampires, and Kerry," he said calmly and gesturing towards Kerry when he referred to her.

"So, you're a vampire?" she asked.

He nodded amused.

"I knew it!" she declared, pointing a finger at him.

Michel gave a small laugh and then asked, "Would you like me to change you?"

"What about the hunters…" she asked, turning to look at the door and back at Michel and Kerry.

"Don't worry about the hunters. They're in over their head." Michel said as if it was no big deal.

"Okay, if it's no trouble changing me…" she began, but was cut off by Michel.

Michel laughed again, "Trouble? I need blood anyways. It heals dead man's blood faster."

Kerry was instantly offended, and she wasn't quite sure why. She spoke without thinking, "You could have taken my blood." Kerry shot at him.

He shot a look at her.

"Also, you change her but not me?" Kerry was being smart with him. Okay, so she was a little jealous.

He grabbed her arm and pushed her against the wall, "You know why," he growled at her. He tightened his grasp and she winced.

She fought the tears and was able to say sternly, "Let me go, Michel."

He just glared at her.

'Now! Let me go!" she demanded.

He let go, his cold blue eyes looking straight through her.

"By the way, my name is Michel, not Jess." she heard him say as she slammed the bathroom door behind her and locked it.

She slid up against the bathtub, leaning into the wall and began to cry. She could feel the bandage had become loose, so she tore it off. Her arm throbbed. It was bleeding a tiny bit through the stitches. She buried her head in her knees, trying not to think of the pain. It hurt way worse than it did before. And she was blaming Michel for it.

After a few moments passed she heard a bang on the door, "Kerry, open up!" It was Michel.

She tried her best to clear her throat, "Go away you bastard!" her voice cracked in the middle though.

He broke the lock just like last time and let himself in, closing it behind him. He saw her huddled on the floor. She glanced up briefly at him and then pushed herself even more up against the bathtub, like trying to get further away. He sighed and walked over. He sat down across from her. "Let me see," he demanded softly.

Kerry shook her head. She attempted to back up even more, molding her back with the tub completely till it began to hurt.

Michel wouldn't take that answer though and reached over for her arm. He grasped it firmly, but gently and pulled it towards him. He glanced down at her arm and her stitches, studying it.

"It hurts worse," Kerry's voice cracked again. She knew she sounded pitiful.

Michel didn't look up at her. His fingers traced the stitches, making Kerry flinch from the coldness and from just the touch. He got to the end of it, where he had tied a knot. He let his nail into it and cut the string. He began to pull out the stitches in her arm. Kerry instantly cried out though, not wanting him to. It hurt like Hell already, why make it worse? "It's alright," he reassured her. "It will only hurt for a moment."

Kerry leaned her head back, gritting her teeth as he pulled the stitches out. When he was done and she could only feel the throbbing of her arm, she glanced back down. She saw blood begin to gush out. She panicked, looked up at Michel with pleading eyes. Michel didn't hesitate and was going to finish what he started. He held her arm in his hands and brought it halfway up to his lips to her bloody arm. He let his tounge run down her arm. Kerry shivered almost violently and threw her head back, resting it on the edge of the bathtub. He continued to do this, letting his tounge run along her deep wound. After moments passed, she hadn't realized he had stopped. The strange sensation was not as strong as before, and her arm was still tingling. "Kerry," Michel said, demanding for her to look at him. Her bloody arm was still in his hand.

Kerry peaked an eye open and then lifted her head up. She gingerly glanced down at her arm and sucked in a breath. It was still all bloody. Michel stood up, pulling her up with him. She was still staring at her arm as Michel stopped at the sink. He turned on cool water, making Kerry snap her head up. He placed her arm under the sink without a word and let the cool water run on her bloody arm, making the color of the water turn a pinkish red tint. Michel grabbed a washcloth that was on the counter and rubbed her arm to get the blood off. Kerry cringed for a moment, but then realized that it didn't hurt anymore. After a couple more minutes of this, Michel turned off the water and grabbed a dry towel that was hanging on the towel rack. He patted dry her arm as she stood there stunned to see unmarred skin. She looked up at him with questionable eyes. "Michel…" she started.

But he cut her off by hugging her tightly. "I'm sorry." He said it so simply. She trembled at little from her recent blood loss and he only pulled her closer. After a moment, he pulled away gently, "Come with me." He took her hand and led her out of the bathroom. "They'll take care of the hunters. I need to go and change Keria."

Michel walked back to the room that was considered his room while here. And it was also considered Kerry's room because it was his room. It was at the end of the long hallway. He stopped when he got to the room and turned towards Kerry, "Stay out here, Kerry. Don't leave this spot."

Kerry nodded as he pressed her back up against the wall and slid down, their hands parting. He turned and walked through the door, leaving it slightly cracked. Kerry could hear voices.

"Okay, Keira, how do you want to do this? Do you want to be standing up, sitting down, or lying down?" Michel's voice asked in a pleasant tone

"Well…which is better?" Keira's tone was timid and unsure.

"It's based on preference. Which would be more comfortable for you?" Michel's voice was calm and soothing. And, he was being nice and being very patient. Kerry assumed that is was because she had wanted this, so he just wanted her to be as comfortable as possible.

"I guess…just standing." Keira said after a moment of thought.

"Alright. Which wall?" It sounded like he was grinning right now.

Kerry heard her laugh, "I'll let you decide."

A few moments later, she heard Michel calming her, "Alright, just take deep breaths and relax. The more you relax, the easier it is." He paused, "Also, if you decide all of the sudden this isn't what you want, just think it. If I don't stop, it means it's too late and you have to decide on death or changing. If you do change your mind and it's not too late than…I don't know. But I'm sure we'll figure out something."

"Alright," Kerry heard her say in a sigh.

Then it was silent after a small gasp that could barely reach Kerry's ears. A few moments later, she heard Michel, amused, "Well, which is it? Your thoughts are going back and forth on the idea."

She laughed a little, "Don't worry; I believe you will tell if I wanted you to stop."

"How is it so far? I'm not hurting you at all, am I?"

"No, it's more…pleasurable than I thought."

He laughed a little, "That's good. If I was hurting you, it would be a first without me realizing it. Glad you're enjoying."

It went silent again after hearing another small pleasurable gasp. After about a minute, she heard Michel say, "Alright, Keira, this is the offer. You takin' it?"

As Kerry waited, she saw a man begin down the hall, but he was grabbed and then killed. The vampire's cold eyes glared down the hall at her. She jumped a little, meeting his gaze. Next thing you know, he was in front of her. He grabbed her shirt, well Michel's shirt, and pulled her up. "I recognize you. You're that hunter that was stalking me a couple of months back. You found out where I was staying. You were even in my house during the daylight. Tell me, how come you didn't kill me then? What kind of hunter are you?"

"How did you even know I was in your house?" Kerry asked astonished.

"You're blood," he said blandly.

"It was a paper cut," she shot at him. "It wasn't a lot."

"So," he said, "I even saw what you were reading. It was an address. Find what you were looking for?"

"No, but I did just a couple of nights ago, so I'm good, thanks." she began to walk around him.

He stopped her, "So tell me," he said with a vampire grin, "I hear I'm not supposed to touch you. By whose orders?"

"Mine," a stern voice said. Kerry looked in the doorway to find Keira with Michel next to her. He pushed past her and grabbed Kerry's hand.

"I smell three scents on her. One of them is yours, and the rest…seems that they're disobeying."

"You stay out of it. And keep away from her, you got it?" Michel shot a warning at him.

"So sensitive," he taunted, "So why not let anyone else touch her?"

"Because, I said so," he growled. The other vampire made a quick movement towards her, about to grab her. But, Michel caught him first. He threw the other vampire against the table that was in the hall, knocking down a vase. "I said 'stay away!'" Michel growled loudly. Kerry was up against the wall, surprised at what Michel just did.

_First he's mad, now he's possessive. _

"I was never mad," Michel turned to her, growling, "And I'm not possessive." He stared at her with his cold blue eyes. There was no emotion in them. She was almost afraid. Almost.

He relaxed his look towards her and reached his hand out for hers. She looked down at his hand and then back at him, making no signs of moving.

He then moved towards her, invading her personal zone and grabbed her hand. He took his free hand and touched her cheek. He leaned in towards her face and kissed her neck. He then pulled back, letting go of her hand. His eyes were cold and he moved down the hallway towards the living room. Kerry sighed, looking over at the broken vase to find that the vampire was gone.

She looked over at Keira. She was still in the doorway, "What was it like?" she asked curious.

She looked at her, "It was…different. The bite was…"

"I know how the bite feels," she said automatically putting her hand on her neck. "I wanna know how it felt right before you became a vampire and right after."

"You're heart is straining for blood and you feel like you're dying, which you are. And then the offer comes. When you take it, first you're repulsed by the taste of it. But, then you realize fully the taste of the velvet liquid and take in more until it circulates in your body. You feel your own heart race than slow down to the few heartbeats a vampire has. You wake up fully, craving for blood."

"Keira!" she heard Michel's voice. Keria glanced down the hallway. "Come over here," he demanded her. She obeyed, walking past Kerry.

Kerry just closed her eyes, leaning up against the wall, imagining Michel draining her in his arms and how it would feel. She couldn't wait to feel that feeling, if he ever does it. She hoped he would. A small smile cracked on her face as she daydreamed.

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	23. Do You Even Want Me?

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 23: Do You Even Want Me?

Kerry stood there for a few minutes with that smile on her face. The daydream playing over and over in her mind. A noise from the living room broke her out of her wonderful trance. She opened her eyes and frowned slightly. She pushed herself off the wall and cautiously walked back into the living room. She peaked in, noticing how they had kept one of the men alive. She scanned the room until her eyes fell on Michel. Just as her eyes fell on her perfectness, he jerked his head to look at her. He appeared next to her using his vampire swiftness. She gasped at the sudden movement. "I don't want you in here," he told her sternly.

"Where do you want me to go?" she asked innocently.

He sighed, "I'm not sure. Let's see, its 3:30 already. I don't want you upstairs..."

"Do you even want me?" she asked bluntly.

He didn't make any movement or emotion. "Go back to the room."

She looked at him for a moment and he just stared right back at her with a glass stare. She sighed, giving up. She wasn't even sure what she was giving up on. Maybe she was trying to get him to show emotion. She turned away to walk back to the room. He grabbed her hand and turned her back around, brushing a kiss on her cheek and then releasing her. She saw a hint of a smile form. He then turned her back around and pushed her forward. She tried to hold back a smile, but it came across her face.

"Go watch TV," he hollered at her when she was about to walk back into the room. She turned to glance at him one last time. She was smiling. He only gave her a hint of a smile, but that was good enough for her.

She walked into the room and turned on the light. She crawled onto the bed and grabbed the clicker. Then it dawned on her, '_What the hell is on TV at 3 in the morning?...Infomercials?'_

She began to flip through the channels. She found on HBO Underworld: Evolution. She had already seen the first one. See, this is why she loved Halloween; they had all these kind of movies. Luckily, she just caught the movie at Feature Presentations. She closed the door, turned out the light, and got comfy in the bed.

Towards the end of the movie, Michel walked in. He closed the door and slyly made it in the bed next to her. "Are there really werewolves?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the TV.

He laughed, amused at her, "No, werewolves do not exist."

"Just making sure," she said.

They had a few minutes of just watching the movie, "You're not lying to me?"

He laughed and put his arm around her, "Now why would I lie to you?"

She looked at him, "Since when haven't you lied to me?"

He grinned mischievously, "Good question." He leaned in and kissed her on her lips lightly.

She pulled back, "I wanna know what happens."

He laughed again. She put her head on his shoulder. He snaked his arm back around her and pulled her close. She loved being so close to him.

They watched the movie. Everything was going okie dokie till her own stupid thoughts kicked in.

_I want him so bad. Does he want me? I want him pressed up against my body, kissing me all over. I long for his deep, sensual kisses. I want to be with him forever but I doubt he would want me in that way, forever………Wait a minute! He can hear this. Shit! _

She looked at him; he was looking at the TV, as if he were watching the movie. Her heart was pounding; she was worried he heard what she had just thought, afraid of his reaction or his amusement towards human emotion. No doubt, he could hear her heart. Of course he could hear that. She could practically hear her own heartbeat thudding in her ears. He then turned and looked at her appraisingly. She jerked from his arms and jumped off the bed. He laughed amused, "Kerry, I'm not going…" He stopped himself. Her face was so red from embarrassment. She saw in his eyes glamour of amusement. His eyes softened though after a moment of silence between the two of them. She didn't move and neither did he. "Kerry," he began softly, "They are your own thoughts and emotions. I'm not going to ridicule you for them. Especially if it's…" he laughed a little. It was more of an unemotional laugh. You couldn't tell what it was towards. But, she didn't really think it was towards her. "It's not," he said, looking at her in the eyes.

She saw a small hint of movement. The next thing she knew, he was standing in front of her. The way he moved towards her made her back against the wall. Her heart began to pound even more. Because of her heart rate, he was laughing at her. Well, at least that's what she thought the reason was. He grinned at her for it. He pulled her towards him and kissed her deeply and do I need to say it? Sensually.

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer. She did the same. Their tongues danced in each other's mouths. He then was kissing her face and her neck and back to her lips again. Kerry began to hear the credits go off from the movie, but there was no chance she was pulling back.

It was ironic how the guy in the movie was also named Michael, except he wasn't the vampire. She was the vampire. And he wasn't afraid of her…

Her heart was pounding as Michel's hands ran across her back. She played with his hair as they kissed. He was switching to her neck to her lips. They were the sweetest kisses.

Her fingers grasped his shirt tightly. Slowly, after letting her breath catch up, she let her fingers unhinge from his shirt, letting her hands run down his sides, feeling her arms brush up with his cold arms. She rested her hands on his hips, pulling him a little closer. His hands lay on her hips too. He pulled her dangerously close. It made her want him in so many ways, that it didn't seem fair. Her breath caught in her throat as he held her so close.

"I want you, Kerry," he said softly, breaking the silence. "I want you next to me…forever."

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	24. Reality Nightmares

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 24: Reality Nightmares

After they broke away, Kerry taking his words to heart, he left the room. He told her that he needed to take care of some things. And so she was left standing there, wishing she was still wrapped up in his ice cold arms. She reluctantly laid on the bed once again, glancing at the clock and seeing that she still had 1 hour and 30 minutes before Michel had to sleep. She saw that another movie was already starting. It turned out to be It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Kerry couldn't help but smile at that. She stared at the TV, bringing her back to her childhood days. And it even reminded her of Ian. She tries so hard not to think of them, just to ignore the pain. Though, that's wrong, it was the only way she learned to deal with their tragic death. Kerry heaved in a breath to calm her urge to cry right then and there. But still, a tear did manage to go down her cheek and she felt her heart ache, like she was being stabbed. She went into her survival mood so she wouldn't have a breakdown. She let her mind blank out and just stared at the TV.

After she had calmed her mind of her sad past, she glanced at the clock, seeing that it was 6:45. She climbed out of bed and walked towards the window, noticing that the curtains were still open, giving her a gorgeous view of the moon. She stood there for a moment, taking in the pretty sky, but then grabbed the dark, heavy cloth curtains and closed them. She stood back and moved a little to the right to grab the dark shutter and pulled it closed. She then did the same to the right side. She stared at the window for a moment, realizing what great lengths they have to go through to be protected during the day while they slept. She turned away and headed for the door. She peaked her head into the hallway and then walked out. She walked into the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her. After she peed, she splashed warm water on her face, flinching because of pain in her left arm. It just made her even more grateful for Michel healing her right arm.

When she was done, she walked out of the bathroom and turned to walk back to the room. That was when she heard the scream, which sounded like it came from upstairs. She froze, getting shivers down her spine. A cold hand went and touched her on her arm from behind, making her shriek while turning around at the same time. She came face to face with the unemotional mask and the blue eyes that told her nothing. "I told you not to come out of the room," he said in such a mono-tone voice.

"Well," Kerry began, "there's no bathroom in there."

He just sighed and began to walk forward, his hand still on her arm, which meant, she was walking with him. They walked into the room and he closed the door, his hand slipping from her arm. She laid on bed, finding herself tired. Michel laid next to her, startling her slightly as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. He kissed her bare neck, making her shiver slightly. After moments of silence went by, Michel's stern voice made Kerry jump in his arms, "Kerry," he spoke.

She turned her head a little and turned her body ever so slightly so she could see his face.

"There will be guardians here the whole day. Don't give them any reasons to be suspicious of your intentions," he told her still in a stern voice.

She nodded, "Okay."

As she let her body settle back to its original comfortable state, he pulled her towards him even closer. Just being with him was comforting, even if it was in silence. He kissed the back of her head. As the minutes went by to the point of almost dawn, Michel whispered to her, "Never be truly afraid of me, but always be afraid of anyone else here unless I say otherwise."

Before she could respond, because she was slightly shocked of what he just said, he inhaled. He was no longer breathing. She felt sort of afraid and alone now that he was like literally dead. The only way she would be able to wake him would be prematurely with sunlight. Say if she did that and he woke up, if she immediately closed the curtains and shutters back, would he fall back into his vampire deadly sleep or would he be awake until he chose to go back to sleep? She heard a small snort of laughter the moment she was done with that thought. She turned to look at Michel. He was smiling in his sleep. It was his grin of amusement.

_Could he actually hear my thoughts while he was literally dead asleep?_

He squeezed her wrist that he already had a hold of. She gasped while his grin of amusement remained. A moment later, his hand became limp and the grin faded back to how his facial expression looked before. She wondered, as she fell asleep, how he did what he just did.

_Michel was kissing me all over and holding me close. We were in this wide open field under a full moon. He mumbled something to me about changing me finally. But for some reason, I said 'no' in a resentment tone. I pushed him back and yelled at him. He looked bewildered at me, telling me that it was what I had once wanted. But I yelled back, calling him 'Satan's spawn.' He winced at that. He then lunged at me. A big tree sprouted up from the ground and he threw me against it. He grabbed my arms tightly. His glare was lust for blood. "You told me never to be afraid of you!" I yelled._

"_I lied," he said as he wrapped his arms around me and began to squeeze the life out of me._

_I cried out in pain and in loss of breath. _

Kerry's eyes flew open to find a guardian hovering over her. His hands were placed over Michel's for some reason. She blinked. She began to sit up, but then realized that she was slightly sore…as if someone was…squeezing her to death.

"I'm sure you already know," the guardian said in a deep voice as he placed Michel's hands to his side, "that dead man's blood makes a vampire paranoid."

Kerry nodded.

"He was just now paranoid and took it out on you."

"What?" she asked startled.

"He may have acted tough and covered the pain, but he can't hide it in his sleep. I'd be careful. The wisest thing you could do is not be next to him till he wakes up, after he is fully healed."

She nodded, "I will…if I feel threatened. But I'm not."

"Not yet you aren't," he said lowly and walked out.

Kerry looked back at Michel unsure. She looked at the clock. It was only 10am. She laid back down next to Michel. She saw him wince, but then relax again. It took her a while, but she finally relaxed also. She fell back asleep followed by another nightmare.

_"Come on," Michel edged me on cheerfully, "I'll do it."_

_I smiled at him. It had taken him almost a year, but he finally agreed to change me. The war had calmed down enough that he thought it was safe enough for me to be with him…forever. "I love you," I said so straight forward as we walked into a room. _

_He looked surprised at me, those blue eyes. They then softened. He leaned into me and kissed me. He began to caress my neck. He pierced into me. It was exhilarating and sweet and a little bit scary all at the same time. I never really thought it was scary out of the many times I had let him take my blood. It was only because his intention was to drain me. I was nervous. He mainly took my blood when we were making out intensely. It felt so intimate. For some reason I loved his vampire touch._

_He began to drain me as he held my neck still. He pressed against me sensually and moved his free hand up the back of my shirt. I put my hand up his shirt, but only with one hand, afraid to move the other, as if I was going to tip him off balance, which I knew was impossible. _

_Just then I saw a man walk in the room. Michel was unaware of it. He threw the curtains open to reveal sunlight. Without meaning to, since Michel was still attached to me by the neck, he hissed in pain, driving his incinerators deeply into me. I screamed out in pain. Michel couldn't pull back. He slowly died in sunlight, staying alive by taking my blood. The second he stops, he will die and so will I. I know it; I have lost too much blood already. I jerked away, being selfish trying to save myself. He wouldn't though. He dug deeper. I screamed in pain. _

Kerry's eyes flew open. Michel was being jerked off of her by someone. She shot upward crying, feeling the pain in her neck. She was grabbed by another and yanked off the bed. She saw Michel being released and Michel sprawled and trashed, but soon calmed down after about two minutes. She watched in horror as the guardian held her steady. She looked at the clock. It was 3:30pm. She sighed at seeing the time, and then got a stab of pain in her neck.

It was strange. She had one bad dream and then one good dream of Michel and her, and then they both turned into horror nightmares with Michel hurting her. When she woke up, that's exactly what was happening, only under different circumstances.

"Stay away from him," the guardian commanded her.

She looked up at him, wincing in pain. It wasn't from his grip. His grip had a strong hold on her but it was light. It was the bite. Michel had promised her he would never hurt her that way. But could she blame him? No. It wouldn't be fair.

"Do you understand?" he demanded.

She just nodded, looking down, looking at Michel slightly. She noticed how he flinched every few moments. He was having a restless sleep, just like Ash, but just not as bad.

The guardian pulled her out of the room. The whole house was dark. No ray of light anywhere. She knew the sun rays wouldn't be in the house because vampires were here. It was just that, there were no lamps, light, manmade lighting. Nada.

"If you stay awake, keep out of the way. If you go back to sleep, just tell me. I'll find a place for you."

"I don't think I could sleep again." Kerry whispered, still with her hand over the bite mark.

She saw him nod. He led her out into the living room. There was a vampire sleeping on the couch.

"Do what you want. I'm sure you know what is off limits. Don't snoop too much. Just find something to entertain yourself."

Kerry just nodded, not making eye contact. She was concentrating on the pain. He noticed, but didn't seem to care. He walked away.

Kerry turned a little looking at her surroundings. There were two vampires in the living room, one guy on the sofa and one girl on the love seat. As she scanned the dark room, trying to adjust her eyes, she spotted a piano. She walked over a turned on the light that was right next to the piano. As she settled on the wooden bench, she opened the top of the piano. She placed her hands on the keys without pressing hard enough to make music. Kerry laughed to herself, remembering that one night with Michel while he played the piano. She smiled momentarily. She then winced in pain.

After she walked away from Michel, she realized she couldn't get him out of her mind. Some nights, she actually felt like he was there, with her. In a memory of him, thinking she would never see him again, she learned to play the piano.

She began to press down on the keys, beginning to play Unchained Melody. After a couple minutes of playing, she stopped abruptly, feeling pain again. It was now coming on in waves. Intense and then really intense. After a moment of sharp inhaling and then sharp exhaling, she relaxed and began to play that one piece that Michel had played that just sort of stuck to her. It was Ragtime by Joplin. She began to play that. She played that one for a while, mixing up the form of it, with a different beat, but it was still going very smoothly. You see when she began, she thought of only Michel when she played. She still does. It's calming in a way. It made her learn faster and made her grow a passion for the instrument. She then played Minute Waltz, giving it a Ragtime beat, just like Michel had done, before switching to the original beat. In the middle of it, she slammed her hands hard on the key board, unintended. A loud jumble of sound came from the instrument. The pain wasn't getting any better. It felt like it was actually getting worse. She sighed to herself as she slowly lifted her hands from the keys and began to play Listen to Your Heart slowly. She loved that song. It was a soothing piece for her. She formed the words in her head as she played. This was for some reason, her favorite piece to play. As she played slowly, trying to fight the pain, she sensed someone behind her. She looked over her shoulder as she hit the next few keys. He was looming over her. She turned back and continued to play. He moved so he was on the side of the piano. She looked up at him, still playing. She stopped a few minutes later with a high note. His stare hadn't changed. She rested her hands on the keyboard without pressing down. She flinched, feeling the pain again. "Stop making so much noise," he growled.

She stubbornly went to put the cover down. She almost let it just slam down, but she realized that would be a bad move, a very bad move. As she brought it down, her hand slipped and she tried to catch it, but she failed. She jumped, as she pulled her hand back before it got slammed with it too. The loud BAM sound seemed to echo though the quiet house. She looked up at the guardian, afraid of his reaction. His stare hadn't changed. He then just walked away.

_That's it? All he wanted was for me to stop playing? Fine. Be that way._

She felt tears come as she realized fully the pain. She got up and went to walk into the bathroom to do her crying. She turned on the light and stepped in, but then she wondered what the time was, wondering when all the vampires would wake up. The only place she had seen that had a clock was the room Michel was in. She walked in. It was 4:10. No wonder he wanted her to stop playing. She had played for about 30 to 35 minutes straight.

She turned and saw her suitcase. Happy to see it, she walked over as she let in a sharp breath of pain. She dropped to her knees. The tears were coming now. She couldn't be strong for long. She pressed her hand up against her neck in hope that it would just go away. It wasn't helping. The pain dulled down again. She quickly opened her suitcase and grabbed clothes, a toothbrush, hairbrush and all those other things she needed. She walked into the bathroom, just dropping the stuff on the floor.

She brushed her teeth, washed her face, brushed her hair, and put on just simple eye makeup, like she always wore her makeup. She got dressed and put her hair in a ponytail. Of course, she stopped to take in breaths of pain in between everything. She walked out and back into the room with Michel. She began to put the stuff back in the suitcase, unaware of what the time was. She grabbed her neck in pain, while on her knees on the floor. She felt a tear come down her cheek. She wiped it away, still with her hand clamped her neck.

She heard a hiss of pain. She jerked her head towards where the hiss of pain came from, but already, Michel was up and in her face. He had kneeled to her height. She couldn't adjust to the lighting with him in her face. "No," he whispered in a dreaded tone.

He grabbed onto her arms, pulling away her clamped hand from her throat, and leaned in. She tried to flinch back, but he held her steady. He pierced into her as she dug her nails into his arms. She gasped in pain, feeling the hot sting of tears. A few moments later, it felt soothing. But she didn't want this. She wanted him to stop. She tried to move, but he didn't release. A moment after her longing for him to release her, he did and she fell backwards. Michel was now standing up with his back to her. She heard him swear in French. She began to get up slowly, watching him. He turned towards her. She jumped. She looked into his eyes and saw remorse in it, she thought. Michel began to move swiftly till he had her up against the wall. Her heart was going wild, panicking with fear. He looked at her and scanned her face and emotions. A moment later, his expression hadn't changed. He leaned forward and grasped her tightly. It reminded her of that first dream of hers when he was squeezing her so tight when she changed her mind about changing her mind. "I never meant to hurt you," he whispered, "I am so sorry, Kerry." He sounded regretful, remorseful, repulsed, and mortified. He was giving into human emotion.

She hadn't returned the embrace. He rested his head on top of hers.

"Please," he said in a desperate voice.

Since when was Michel desperate or remorseful or mortified or repulsed or regretful? Some of them he had expressed in the past. Like when he was mortified of when she thought he 

drained Regina. Or repulsed when he had the thought of drinking animal's blood. Regretful? Remorseful? Desperate? _I think not._

He was letting her go.

"Michel," she whispered.

Why hadn't she embraced him back? She didn't know. She couldn't make sense of her own actions in that moment. He pulled back finally, not laying an eye on her. He swore again in French. The only thing she heard in English was 'damn-it.'

He left her standing there bewildered. She realized fully that the pain was gone. She sighed and leaned all her weight against the wall and slid down. She was so tired. It was probably because of the blood he had just taken from her.

_Why didn't I embrace him back?_

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	25. Looking for Michel

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 25: Looking for Michel

After she sat in the dark for 10 minutes, she finally got up, dragging herself right into bed. She was feeling exhausted now. It seemed to hit her so fast too. She figured it was the combination of being in pain and then losing blood that just made it all happen. She hugged her pillow close to her, smelling Michel on the sheets. She sighed quietly as she let herself drift back to sleep.

When her eyes flew open at the sound of yelling, she groaned and rolled over. She pulled herself up, realizing that this time she thankfully couldn't remember her dreams. She blinked a couple times, letting her eyes adjust fully to the darkness of the night. She glanced at the clock when she could finally make silhouettes out of things in the room. It flashed back at her in digital red writing 9: 00. She had slept a little over three hours.

_How come no one woke me?_ _So you wouldn't be in the way. Duhh. _

She sighed at that thought, wondering about Michel.

She finally got out of bed and slipped some shoes on. She walked out of the room and into the living room. She looked around. Some vampires had left she supposed. Some guardians were still here though. But no sign of Michel.

"Where's Michel?" she asked turning to a guardian she had recognized from earlier.

"He left hours ago," he said as he began to walk up the stairs where she believed the source of the yelling was coming.

She was shocked, "He left? Where to?"

"I don't know. Maybe to feed or something. I'm not his caretaker." He shot back uncaringly.

She sighed. _Great. Now I'm cooped up in a house full of vampires. _

She then sparked an idea. She turned and saw Keira walk in the room. She was wiping blood off her mouth. Kerry's stomach turned slightly, but tried her best to shake it off. "Keira, can I barrow your car, if it's no trouble." she asked as politely as possible.

She gave her a piercing stare as her hand dropped from her mouth, "What for?"

"I just need to get away for a little while. Michel made me abandon mine. So, I'm car-less."

She walked over to her, suspicion in her eyes. But she none-the-less, handed her the keys. "Have it back by 2, 2:30. I need it back by then."

Kerry nodded, "Thanks."

She walked outside and to the mint green Toyota Camry. She knew it was hers. She had seen a glimpse of it last night. She got in and started it. She backed up and then put the car into 'drive.' She drove out of the neighborhood, wondering where Michel was.

After driving around, she stopped for food at a fast food place at 9:30. Kerry hoped Keira didn't mind if she ate in her car.

She drove out of Rockland and got on South 1, staying in the Maine state. She finally got off the highway and drove around for a while. She found herself in Portland wondering around. It was around 10:40pm. As she drove, she listened to music from her vast CD collection. Keira had good taste in music. She liked all sorts of styles.

Kerry finally just pulled into a nightclub at 11:20pm. She got in and heard the thud of the music pounding in her ears, making her own heart race.

She sat at the bar. The bartender came up and asked her if she wanted anything but she just shook her head. She turned to see all the sweaty people crowded on the dance floor having a good time. A few minutes later, a man sat next to her. "Can I buy you a drink?" he asked so nonchalant.

"Sure," she said looking at him. She used him as a meal ticket for liquor. She wasn't legal yet, but she had a taste for alcohol.

The guy got the bartenders attention and ordered two margaritas on the rocks. He handed her the drink. "So, I haven't seen you here before."

"I'm from out of town," she replied.

"Yeah? Where from?"

"Connecticut," she said.

"What's in Connecticut?"

"University of Phoenix," she replied simply. Though, of course she was lying since she didn't have the money for college. But she was dragged to Connecticut. They really thought some vampire cult thing was there. So she went with them to stay in the group and find a vampire. Apparently it paid off.

"Cool. Hey, you wanna ditch this place?"

"Excuse me?" she said slightly shocked. She wasn't about to be picked up by some man she just meet at a nightclub. "No thanks."

"You sure?" he asked sincerely, placing his hand on her arm. She shivered. She knew right then that he was a vampire. According to Michel, Maine was practically swarming with his kind because this was the main battlefield of their war.

She jerked back, "I'm good, really."

He gave her a suspicious glare.

She turned away from him. "I think I'm gonna go. Thanks for the drink."

She hopped off the stool, only drinking half her drink. She realized she shouldn't drink so much since she was driving anyways.

As she walked away, she felt a cold hand clasp over her arm. She was pulled through a door and into a small hall where there were two pay phones, a water fountain and then the bathrooms. He pulled her up against the wall. "You're not going anywhere," he growled at her.

"Leave me alone," she said firmly, now seeing him clearly for the first time. He had light brown hair that had highlights of blue in it. His hair looked like it went past his ears, but she wasn't entirely sure. He had his hair spiked, making the blue stand out nicely. His eyes were a liquid hazel. But they were sharp.

"Vampire hunter," he hissed in her ear.

She was shocked. How the hell do all these stupid vampires know she was with some stupid hunters? "I'm not," she said sternly, "I was with them strictly to find Michel."

"Is that who I smell on you?" he snarled in her ear.

"Get off of her!" a semi-familiar voice said. It wasn't Michel's, that's for sure.

A knife went into the shoulder of the vampire. He yelped, but it was smuggled by the music. The vampire fell to his knees. Kerry looked up in horror.

"Kerry," he said surprised.

"Will?" she asked shocked. He looked a lot better from when she last saw him. She looked back down, "Oh my God! What did you do to him?"

"Dead man's blood. Kerry, he's a vampire."

"I know," she blurted out startled. Not only did he grow out of his acne and lose the dorky glasses, he turned into a vampire hunter too…

"You know? Is it true then that you are a hunter? Your name had come up a couple times, saying you were trying to trick them, that one of them takes a liking to you." He stabbed the vampire again with dead man's blood. Kerry jumped.

"I…" she didn't know how to respond to that. "I…haven't seen you since high school. How've you been?" Her heart was pounding.

"I've been good. You wouldn't believe how many vampires I have killed. I—" he was so damn enthusiastic about this.

"Yeah, let's stop right there. I don't believe in torturing, so stop with the dead man's blood."

"It's the only way they'll talk," he snapped.

Kerry snorted, "Has it even worked yet?"

"It will eventually!" he snapped again.

In a blink of an eye, the vampire had gotten up and lunged at Will. She jumped back against the wall. "Don't kill him!" she jumped forward, but then jumped back.

The vampire glared at her from the side. _Ah, shit. I'm caught in the middle again. I want neither of them dead._

"Kerry, run! Get help!" Will pleaded and demanded at the same time.

"Don't," the vampire snapped, "you move! Back against the wall."

She did as he said.

"More hunters are coming. They'll wait till sun up and watch you die in the sun. You are the dark creators of the night. You are Satan's little spawns. We humans are the Light of God."

"Shut-up!" the vampire threw him harder against the wall. Will began rattling off the Lord's Prayer. He was thrown to the ground by the vampire. "You might want to turn around, Kerry," the vampire said as he took hold of Will and pulled him up, slamming him into the wall again.

"Oh my God!" she gasped. "Don't!" she screeched. Tears formed. He was an old friend. She couldn't stand to see him die. "Please!" she begged.

He was hesitating. She didn't think it was on her account. He looked at the door. He closed his eyes. A grin came across his face. He swerved and put his face in Will's. "I've got a better idea," his tone was mischievous, "Why don't I let the vampires that are about to come in here take care of you, and I'll take care of the girl. She'll get a quicker, easier death and you will die in agony." Kerry winced at the last sentence.

Sure enough, two vampires walked in, one a girl and one a boy. Aw, how cute, they were holding hands. "What do we have here?" the girl asked. She had dirty blonde hair that was long and almost to her butt. It was completely straight, like from the 70ties. And she had the prettiest blue eyes, like waves of the ocean. She was petite and stood with an air of confidence.

"Good question," the man replied. He turned towards the vampire, "What _do_ we have here, Rodney?" He was an interesting fellow. He had a mohawk and his hair was green like the grass. To match his hair, his eyes were a deep green.

" Hey Seth. Rachel. We've got two hunters, but she," he glanced at her, "has three different scents on her. The dominating one is Michel's."

"So does that mean she is Michel's?"

_Great, they're referring to me as if I wasn't even here._

"I don't know. Maybe…"

"He may not admit it," Kerry spoke up, looking at the girl vampire, "But he _can_ be possessive of me. He doesn't let anyone else touch me…"

"And the two other scents?" the vampire who still had hold of Will asked expectantly.

She sighed just thinking about it, "A guardian and another who thought it was necessary at that moment to read my mind." Rodney raised his eyebrows at her. "By the way," she was able to continue as if nothing was wrong, trying to hide her emotions, "have you seen Michel anywhere tonight? I haven't seen him since he first woke up."

Rodney shook his head. Kerry looked at the other two vampires. "Nope," she replied.

Kerry sighed wondering where the hell he could be. "Know where he would be at?" she asked again.

"He's probably off somewhere in this area. He won't be here. For some reason he hates this spot. Not sure why…"

Just then another walked in, "I came to see the party."

Kerry slowly turned only to met Joey's face.

Rodney spoke, "We've got a hunter and someone that belongs to Michel."

"You!" Kerry let out a disgusted tone.

Joey's eyes flickered to her and darkened, "Well, well. Look who it is." He walked over to her with an air of sickening confidence. He grabbed Kerry's chin. "What are you doing way out here, my dear?"

"Go to Hell, Joey," Kerry spat, jerking away. He let his hand drop.

"Tsk tsk. You shouldn't have an attitude like that for someone who is capable of killing you fairly easily."

"Michel will kill you if you did that."

"Not if you deserved it." Joey shot back.

"I've never killed a vampire. Just because I was with hunters doesn't make me a potential threat."

"You knowing about us and roaming freely with your knowledge _is_ a threat."

"I never told the hunters anything. You were there that night. Remember?"

"Oh, I do remember."

"You had seemed so sincere then. What happened?"

He snorted, "Sincere? Please, do not get the wrong impression of me. I want to know what it is about you…What you have over Michel that makes it so that he hasn't killed you yet."

"I don't have anything over him." Kerry said sternly. "You're just paranoid and think I do."

"I'm not paranoid," his voice was dark and stern, "I'm just wary of humans. Especially those who somehow worm their ways into being close to one. All humans are scum!"

"And you're vampire scum!" Kerry shot at him angrily.

His hand lunged for her throat, cutting off her air supply. He leaned in close to her ear, "Did you forget what I told you?" he squeezed tighter. Kerry made gasping noses. "The one about where I would not hesitate to kill you? I'm a strong man of my word, Kerry. I advise you don't forget it. Don't forget who you are in the presence of."

Seth laid a hand on Joey's shoulder. Joey waited for one more moment, then he released his grip. Kerry fell to the floor, catching herself, gasping for breath. She coughed as she tried to intake the much needed oxygen. "You, Joey, are an asshole." Kerry said in between coughs. She looked up at him to find him glaring down at her. She looked at the ground again, seeing how dirty it was. She got on her knees and used the wall as support to get up. She resisted the urge to spit in Joey's face. Instead she took a shaky breath in than back out. "I'm leaving now."

Rodney still had hold of Will, who had shock evident in his eyes and face. Rodney looked at her sternly, looking her up and down. "Some history you got there," he mumbled.

"Should we just let her go?" Rachel asked.

Seth shrugged.

"Of course not!" Joey spat. "She's a threat! A problem."

"But she's not our problem," Seth replied. "If she belongs to Michel, then she is Michel's problem. Not ours."

"You can't just let her go!" Joey spat angrily.

"Seth is right. And we have nothing to hold her by."

"Of course we have something to hold her by!"

"And you need to cool it," Seth said darkly, moving towards Joey.

Joey growled.

"We have to respect the fact that she is someone else's." Rodney said, assessing the situation, watching Joey very carefully. "There are also guardians out there and others of us. I think we should let her do as she pleases. If she does anything she shouldn't be doing, it would be Michel's fault, not ours."

"Meaning, Kerry, don't do something you'll regret," Rachel said firmly.

Kerry acknowledged that with a small nod. After a moment, Kerry asked again, "Can I go now?"

Joey growled lowly. Rodney glanced at him and then back at her, "Let her go."

Seth pulled Joey out of the way so Kerry could step forward then Rachel moved out of the way. She glanced at Will one more time, not being able to do anything for him. He returned the glance. He looked like a scared little puppy. But she had to turn away from it. Kerry began to walk out of the hallway and back towards the thudding music.

"You better not stick around this area, Kerry. It's not safe when you don't have a friendly vampire by your side." Seth warned.

Kerry stopped for a moment as he spoke and when he was done, she just gave a small nod without turning around. She walked back out into the main area. Everyone was so oblivious to what just happened there. That there were four vampires all in one area and two hostages. She pushed past the sweaty people who were just having fun and getting drunk with their friends. She finally found the exit and pushed through the door. She was hit with cold air. Shivering slightly, she walked out onto the sidewalk, passing a few clubers. She made way to the car, desperate for warmth. When she got to it, she settled in, letting the heat run. As she shifted into reverse, she saw that it was now midnight. She got onto the main road, wishing she never went to that nightclub.

About 15 minutes later, she realized she took a wrong turn. She found herself on a dark narrow street full of alley ways. She slowed down instead of speeding up, noting that her doors were locked. She pasted some junky looking cars. She finally got out of the narrow street. She figured that she was almost back to the main road. She hit the brakes when she saw a parking lot to a rundown building. It had a junky car that Kerry wasn't even sure if it ran anymore. But not too far from it was a nice black SUV. Kerry pulled into the parking lot, parking not too far from the SUV and right under a street light. It made her feel better being under it. Kerry opened her door, turning off the engine.

She saw only one alley way. So she inched forward. She made herself move a little faster until she got to the edge of the alley way, she peaked down it, not sure if she was making out figures or just shapes in the dark. She walked in the dark alley way. She had gotten pretty far in the alley way, not too far from the end. That's when she stopped dead in her tracks. She recognized him even though she couldn't see his face. And he was attached to the neck of his victim. Shivers were sent down her spine. Curiosity only got the best of her, though her logic senses screamed at her to run. And yet…she wanted to be with him, forever. She went up, almost behind him with a yards distance. She leaned up against the wall and waited for it to be over. She noticed from side vision that he had tensed.

_It's alright, it's just me. I'm not looking if that's what you're worried about. I only came to talk about…with what happened…_

She said this in her mind, but he hadn't relaxed. Maybe he hadn't heard her. Maybe that was because he was taking someone else's blood, listening to their memories and thoughts.

She saw his body begin to relax and she turned her head completely towards him. She saw that he was detached from the woman's neck. She heard a low growl and became alarmed. Michel turned towards her as the body dropped to the ground. His cold blue eyes held fury and blood lust. She tried to jump back, but her back just pushed up against the brick wall even further.

**Review? **

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	26. Thoughts Exchanged

Disclaimer: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

Chapter 26: Thoughts Exchanged

_She saw his body begin to relax and she turned her head completely towards him. She saw that he was detached from the woman's neck. She heard a low growl and became alarmed. Michel turned towards her as the body dropped to the ground. His cold blue eyes held fury and blood lust. She tried to jump back, but her back just pushed up against the brick wall even further._

Michel lunged for her, grabbing her shoulders, almost digging his nails into her. She flinched. Without a moment to spare, he yanked her hair away to expose her neck and leaned towards it. She couldn't find her voice, preoccupied by the unexpected reaction from him. She tried to choke out his name. His lips went to her throat and she could feel him began to pierce into her.

"Mich…" she whispered in fright but stuttered so he could barely make out what she even said. It sounded more like a blurb rather than a word.

When he had completely pierced into her, Kerry was finally able to get her voice working and screamed, "MICHEL!" It echoed through the ally way, setting off the silence of the night.

He jerked backwards and put his hands out defensively. He was startled, it showed in his eyes, but they also held fury. He laid his eyes on her and the fury and startled look stayed. He dropped his hands and balled them up into a tight fist, becoming tense again. He exhaled, as if he were holding his breath. She then realized _she_ had stopped breathing as well. She gasped for the intake of air. It made a dent in the silence that was tensed between them. She looked in his eyes again after that small episode of hers. Familiarity sparked in his eyes. He relaxed a little. A minute passed by and they both remained still and silent. Even though his eyes held familiarity, he still had the same two looks as before withheld in those blue eyes. "Kerry," he breathed, "What the hell are you doing here?" She noticed how first his voice was gentle, but it was growing with fury.

"Michel…" she began, unsure what she should say to him after what just happened.

"Get out of here, Kerry!" he demanded loudly, pointing the way out of the ally. She jumped to her side, scraping her arm slightly against the rough brick. She stammered, "Why?"

"I said, 'LEAVE!'" he yelled furiously.

She just nodded after a moment and began to push herself up from the wall. It had supported all her weight. Now she was afraid she was going to fall having to support her own weight. As she walked to the front of the ally from which she came from, she turned her head slightly. She noticed he had rolled his sleeve back, bringing his wrist to his mouth. Before he did what she thought he was going to do, he turned in her direction, noticing she was looking at him. A loud enough growl for her to hear came from him, serving as a warning.

She jerked her head forward and almost ran the rest of the way. Well, she would have ran, but it felt like her legs had become sticks of lead. She practically dragged herself out of the ally way and under the florescent street light. She leaned up against the wall, realizing she was hyperventilating. She slid downward, noticing that her arm was bleeding slightly, nothing gushing though. At least it was her good arm. She wouldn't want her bad arm to begin bleeding again. She sat there, not hearing anything but the howl of the freezing wind. She shivered, putting her knees to her chest. She sat there for a moment like that. Then she wondered, _"Why the hell am I waiting for him? He was an ass to me just now. He can explain himself later if that is what he chooses."_

She stood up, pulling the keys out of her pocket. She walked over to Keira's car and unlocked it. She got in and started the engine, turning on the heat.

_I'm not afraid of him, just annoyed._ _He can act grumpy if he wants. I'M leaving. And I have no idea where to…_

She pulled out and then got on the road, hitting the gas pedal, making her go about 90mph. She didn't care. This wasn't exactly a joy ride for speed either. She felt desperate to get out of Maine all of the sudden. How stupid could that be, considering every fucking vampire and guardian knew she was once with vampire hunters. God, they are overly cautious, and within good reason…

Where did she want to head? She could head back to Connecticut. But isn't that the first place they would look for her? Going back to New York is at least a 10 hour drive. But the house was inherited to her. So she could go there. So then it was settled. She was going back to Brockport, New York.

The music went for about 10 minutes. It turned on when she had turned the car on. She slammed the 'off' button. It became silent. She could only hear the sound the engine made. It wasn't terribly loud, but it certainly wasn't purring like a Porsche would. All that she faced now was darkness, from side to side, front to back.

She soon noticed her uneven course of breathing and that tears were streaming down her face. _How long have I been crying? God only knows. Stupid Michel! I wonder where he is right now…_

She drove for another forty minutes. She soon emerged into a small town. She slowed finally to 50mph.

She finally looked at the clock. It was a little passed 1:30am. She then wondered about Keira. She did after all have _her_ car.

She stopped at a stop light, noticing it was red when there were no other cars around. She looked at it and laughed a little to herself. _Stupid small town people, as if they need a light to control traffic. _

She then noticed, wondering how long it has been there, a car was behind her. She looked in the rearview mirror, but saw no driver. She then went to look back, and saw a face bent down to the level of her window. She jumped back, away from the window and shrieked. She looked at the window again, almost seeing a smile form on the strangers face. But then she realized: that was no stranger. She straightened up, putting her hands on the steering wheel. She hit the gas pedal and the car lunged forward, leaving the not-so-much-a-stranger behind.

She realized a few minutes later that his car was on her ass. She swerved to the side and turned off the road onto a country dirt road, immediately regretting her decision.

The car was able to turn so smoothly, following her easily. She wanted to scream in frustration.

"_You can't do this forever!" _she screamed in her thoughts.

"_Sure I could. I have forever after all." _

She jumped at the sound of his voice and then she heard a distant laugh.

"_Question," _she squeaked in her thoughts,_ "Well, it's more of a plea rather. Please tell me I just heard your voice and in a non-crazy way…" _

She heard the distant laugher again. _"I thought you knew." _

"_Knew what?" _

"_I can exchange my thoughts with you by choice after I take your blood. __**You**__ don't have a choice, but I do." _

"_Oh…"_

"_I guess I've never exchanged my thoughts with you before…All well…better late than never, right?" _he put in a heavy dose of cheerfulness in that thought._ "Now pull over so I can talk to you. I 'm sorry…from which you described me, for being an ass. I hadn't meant to." _His cheerfulness had died down to sincerity.

"_Hmm…Not here."_

"_Why not?" _

"_Because, it's a dark creepy, country road." _

She heard him laugh again.

"_Glad you're amused by my fears of the dark."_

"_It doesn't look dark to me. In fact, it's light as day out here." _There goes his cheerful, brightly toned thought/voice again.

She rolled her eyes. _"Stupid vampire powers."_

"_Well, considering you're scared, I think you would be glad to have me be able to see clearly in the dark." _Same tone as last time with hidden pride.

"_I'm not glad! I'm mad…at __**you**__, no less!"_ she yelled in her then hit the gas pedal down, watching her speed-o-meter going from 50mph to 95mph.

"_Slow down!" _Michel commanded her.

"_Stop following me and I will!"_

"_Oh, so that's how it is." _He replied so matter-of-factly.

She then noticed he was catching up. She leaned on the gas harder, making it to 110mph.

"_Stop it, Kerry!" _he demanded.

"_Why do you care?" _she demanded back.

"_I don't want you to get hurt!" _

"TOO LATE!" she yelled out loud.

"_I never meant to!" _Michel argued.

A few minutes went by without exchanged thoughts. She ranted in her mind, but he didn't respond.

"_I'll slow down if you slow down," _Michel pleaded finally.

"_Fine, you first though," _she agreed after a moment of thought.

He began to slow down and then she did after a moment. She was now only going 80mph.

"_That's a hell of a lot better," _Michel thought to her sternly.

Even though his voice was stern, she definitely could detect his voice sounding greatly relieved. It was then silent amongst their thoughts. He didn't comment on hers as she shuffled through her own.

"_Slow down up ahead, Kerry," _his voice sounded alarmed.

"_Why?" _she asked skeptical.

"_Do as I say!" _he demanded.

She slowed down so she was going 60mph.

"_Even more than that!" _he demanded.

"_Would you rather me stop?" _she spat harshly.

"_NO!" _he jumped alarmed, so it seemed.

She began to panic._"Why? What's the problem? What's wrong?" _she asked, realizing even her own thoughts were shaky.

"_It's sort of like a check point. A lot of hunters take this road, so now this is guarded." _he stated so calmly.

"_And you couldn't mention this before?" _she shrieked.

"_Calm down, Kerry. I'm here. They won't touch you. I won't let them." _He reassured her in the best way possible_. _

They drove some more in silence. _"Wait!" _Michel commanded anxiously,_ "Something's wrong here." _

"_What?" _her own thoughts were unsteady.

"_Slow down, Kerry." _He commanded hastily.

She did. she was now going 40mph. _"Tell me what's wrong." _she said forcefully.

"_It's nothing. I misjudged." _He now sounded more relaxed_. _

"_Misjudged what?"_ curiosity has always gotten the better of her.

"_Heartbeats. They've already gotten a small group of them, hunters, I mean." _

"_Oh…well, what's going to happen?" _she asked unsure as they closed in towards the road block.

"_Just stay calm. You're still in the system for being a vampire hunter. As long as I'm there with you and you have my scent on you…it'll be alright." _He was staying just so damn calm about all of this.

"_There's a system?" _she asked shocked.

"_KERRY!" _he yelled.

She slammed on her breaks, realizing a guardian…or er…vampire had stepped in front of her car. It wouldn't have killed him, but it wouldn't be one of the best first impressions ever made.

"_Pay attention," _he whispered as the vampire/guardian came around to her window.

**A/N Didn't change much here…tried too…but all well. Hope you enjoyed :) Review if you'd like. Thank you for those that do :) **

**After my next chapter, I will be posting kind of like a follow-up to what Michel is talking about if things were different. But heck, you don't know what I'm talking about just yet. Look for 'A Midnight's Walk' a couple days after I post the next chapter, k? **

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


	27. The System

Disclaimer #1: I do not own Companions of the Night. As much as I'd like to, I don't.

**Why no, I didn't forget about this story. Because I just sat my arse down and finished this one up. Be happy. Love me. Review.**

Chapter 27: The System

As his words echoed quietly in her head, she saw that the guardian/vampire was in front of her window. "Get out of the car!" he demanded, which sounded a little distant since the door was closed at that moment.

"_Do as he says. He won't touch you. Not yet…" _Michel said to her reassuringly calm.

She unbuckled her seatbelt and opened the door slowly. He stepped away so he wouldn't be hit by the door. She stood up straight and looked at him, unsure. He slammed the car door, making Kerry jump to the side, letting out a small gasp. His eyes narrowed, like he was studying her. Without warning, he pushed her against the car, holding her steady. His face was dangerously closed to her neck. Her heart sputtered into a frenzy.

"_Cool it, Kerry," _Michel said a little forceful.

She took a deep breath in, and then exhaled very slowly.

He snarled and jerked away from her throat. "Tell me, if you can," he growled, "Who do I smell on you?"

She took a deep breath in again, closing her eyes, waiting for Michel to tell her what to do.

"_Go ahead, Kerry. Tell them my name."_

"Michel," she breathed out.

"_Tell him where I'm at," _he told her calmly.

"He's in the car behind mine, she breathed, vaguely pointing to his SUV.

He looked over towards the car and then back at her. "Are you his?" he asked sternly.

She looked at him blankly.

"Did he claim you as his own? Like his property?" he rephrased sternly.

She was about to protest that she was no one's property. She opened her mouth to speak, but Michel growled at her, _"Don't you dare. Wrong person to say that to. You __**are**__ mine. __**I **__have claimed you. You __**are**__ my property." _

"_And after what you did, I don't think so!" _

"_Damn-it, Kerry! Just give him the answer. You know that you are mine! You know that I never purposely meant to hurt you!"_

"_Then say it to my face! Not through stupid thoughts!" _

"_Stop crying!" _he hissed,_ "He's suspicious!" _

"_Let him be!"_

"_Kerry!" _he yelled out in frustration.

"Answer me!" the man in front of her demanded, snapping Kerry from her inward conversation.

"She's mine!" Michel said with venom as he got out of the car, slamming his door behind him.

"Really? Why couldn't she just say so herself?" he was skeptical, now turning toward Michel.

"Kerry," Michel demanded and warned at the same time while looking at her.

"No! Not at the moment I'm not!" she yelled rebelliously.

"I already told you, Kerry, I didn't mean to!" he was frustrated now.

"I know you didn't mean to damn-it! But you left me in that house with…And then when I go to find you, you practically kill me on the spot!"

"FIRST of all Kerry, I left that house because I knew damn well you were upset. No one was going to touch you in there! I knew that for a fact! I made sure of it! And then, you came up behind me while I was feeding, Kerry! Feeding! You scared the hell out of me! I was in my true predatorily state! If you hadn't screamed out my name, I would have killed you!"

"How the hell should I have know that?!" she yelled.

"I thought you were at least smart enough not to be next to a vampire while feeding!" Michel shot back with venom.

"I didn't know!" she screamed as she threw her fists against his chest.

His eyes were piercing through her at that moment. Her hands began to move away from his chest, but he grabbed both of her wrists. "You were afraid of me!" he growled stepping a little towards her.

"I was not!" she denied, "I was annoyed with you! There's a very big difference."

"You were afraid!" he growled louder, he inched even closer.

"Within good reason!" she finally blurted out in spite of anger.

He hesitated, backing up a little, but then stepping forward again, "I told you to **never** be afraid of me!"

"Well, I've gotten two good solid reasons, all found out in not even 24 hours!" she shot at him.

"They don't count! You caught me when **I**__was vulnerable to **hurt** you! You can't hold my nature against me!"

"Then maybe I'm not afraid of you; just your stupid vampire nature!"

He flinched, dropping her wrists and backing up. "If that's how you want to be, Kerry!"

_Just say you're fucking sorry for once…_she thought; it was only meant to keep to herself, but she couldn't help that.

"Is that what you want?" he growled moving towards her again, "To say sorry? As if that would fix everything?"

"I don't know!" she choked.

He drew himself towards her so he was extremely close, "To say that I'm fucking sorry? If I do, I don't believe it will be a first, Kerry," he said to her sternly. He had wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Huh? Is that all you want from me at the moment?" he asked harshly.

She realized she had a few tears coming down her cheeks. She turned away from him, unsure. He clasped his hand tightly on her jaw and jerked her head towards him, so they were face to face, only inches apart. The tears fell. She saw anger in his eyes. She looked into his cold blue eyes that showed no warmth at the moment. His hand tightened around her jaw. More tears came. "Stop, Michel…" she whispered pleadingly.

He didn't move. He just looked at her. Without warning, he leaned forward, loosening his grip on her jaw and sliding it onto her cheek that moped some of the tears into another direction. He pressed his cold lips against hers hard. She gasped in his mouth and his tongue went into her mouth, exploring. She did the same. He pulled her closer. She embraced him back, pulling him towards her even more. "Say it, Ker," he whispered as he slightly moved up for air and then kissed her cheek, all the way to her throat.

"I'm yours," she said softly, gasping for air.

He kissed her hard on the lips again. "You're mine," he said as a statement when he pulled back slightly.

"No one else can touch me but you," she said after moment, catching her breath.

After a few minutes, they pulled away. Her head fell on his shoulder as she gasped for air, like a fish out of water. His arms were securely around her. Her hands grasped his shirt tightly. "I'm sorry, Kerry. I never meant to hurt you. I never knew that what I did could happen. Taking your blood painfully, and not even knowing it…I'm so sorry."

He began to rock her back and forth. "I see," the man began, "You have issues that have been worked out. But, I need answers."

"She's not a vampire hunter," Michel said softy, "She's my property. You can't touch her."

She could feel that he was staring at them, "Michel," he warned, "You need to think this through. She is a hunter! No doubt, she's planning your demise, how she will kill you…"

"I can hear her thoughts. I've taken her blood several times. I trust her." Michel said sternly, breaking away from her to make piercing eye contact, but keeping a tight grip around her waist.

"Then why go down this road? Where are you heading?"

Kerry sighed, "I really don't know where I was going."

"Was I asking you?" the vampire yelled, stepping towards her.

Michel hissed, literally. He retreated back to his original standing point.

"_Where __**were**__ you going anyways?" Michel asked her. _

"_I was heading out of Maine…" _

"_Why?" he was startled. _

"I don't know…" she whispered out loud.

The other vampire looked up, unaware of her and Michel's inner thought conversation. "I don't know why I wanted to leave Maine. That's what I was doing. But, Michel followed me. I tried to lose him by swerving onto this dirt road. He still followed with great ease…"

"As if trying to escape from him?" he questioned sternly.

"I don't know!" she whined.

He narrowed his eyes at her. Michel's grasp around her waist clung tighter. The vampire hesitated. "Do you want me to take her out of the system?"

"She has to stay in the system. Once you're in the system, you're in for good," Michel replied harshly, "You should know that."

"I do," the vampire replied hesitantly, "But I trust you that she won't stay under the heading of 'vampire hunter' if you have claimed her for your own."

"I'll put her under as a different heading. I'll ask her question's later to fill it all out and send it all to you."

"Good," he said. "I'll be expecting that forum then."

Michel just stared at him and then said, "You'll have it soon enough."

"Do you need the flash drive?"

"Yes, I do." Michel replied back smoothly.

He turned away to get the flash drive. After a moment, Michel frowned. "What's wrong?" she asked, looking up at him.

"It wore off." He replied not looking at her and just frowning.

She knew exactly what he meant. It had after all been almost 10 hours. "I'm going to miss your thoughts. I liked to listen to them. They're very…amusing"

She smiled slightly. He too smiled slightly at that last sentence. But it washed away quickly and he got serious as the guy walked back out. He handed Michel the flash drive.

"Take her car back to the house." Michel told him, putting the drive in his pocket.

"Which house?" the vampire asked, not so much as caring. It sounded more as if he were taking orders from Michel.

"Noah and Ash's house," Michel said as he pulled Kerry towards his car. "I'll be at my house. Apparently," Michel said, looking at her, slightly smiling, "Keira needs her car back by 2, 2:30am. I have a feeling it will be a little late."

The vampire nodded as he walked into the tiny hut that was on the side of the road. Michel released her waist. "Get in," Michel said as he got in the driver seat of his black SUV.

She got in at the passenger side and barely had time to buckle her seatbelt as Michel swung the car around. "Sorry," he muttered as the speed-o-meter started to it 100mph.

"You can flip this car easily going this fast." she said alarmed.

"Look who's talking," he practically snorted.

"I was in a small car. Big cars are easier to flip." she informed.

"I bet I'm a hell of a lot better driver than you are, Kerry," he flashed a grin at her.

It became silent for about 20 minutes. Michel was going between 100mph to 120mph, running red lights whenever they stumbled on them. There was no traffic for the point of them being red.

"So your house, huh?" she looked over at him. He kept his eyes on the road, "I'm guessing not the house that was Ethan Byrne's."

"Nope," he replied impulsively, "Got a new one here in Maine."

"You didn't get to far from New York…" she trailed off.

"I would have if it weren't for this stupid war," he stated with some disgust.

"Would you be in Japan right now?" she asked curiously.

He looked over at her, his blue eyes slightly startled.

"Well, last time, you were teaching yourself Japanese," she said, remembering when he was teaching himself that one night, right before she became a murderer.

His eyes melted back to being soft, "That's right, I was supposed to go to Japan. But the war stopped everything."

"Oh," she replied softly.

It became silent again. She just stared out the window and watched things pass in a blur since he was going so fast.

Soon, he took a sharp turn into a neighborhood, circling the whole neighborhood. When the houses got familiar again, he took a sharp turn followed by another sharp turn into a driveway. He turned the engine off. She began to unbuckle her seatbelt. He held his arm out, telling her to stop. She did. She looked over and saw his eyes closed. She realized then he was probably checking for heartbeats. His hand dropped after a moment and began to get out of the car. She followed. She got out and followed him. He wrapped his arm around her waist as he messed with his keys to get the key to the house. They walked in side by side in a dark house. He flipped the light on for her. It was a nice house. She noticed how he had a piano here too. "Do you always have a piano wherever you move?" she asked, staring at the piano.

"I try my best to always have one." He replied as he dropped his keys on the table, releasing her.

He walked out of the room, leaving her to stand there. She walked over to the piano and sat on the bench. She put her hands on the keys, not making sound out of them yet. "What are you doing?' Michel asked amused.

She turned to look at him. He was leaning against the doorframe. He pushed himself off of it and walked over to her. She scooted and he sat next to her. She took her hands off the keys and turned to him. He was looking back at her with an amused grin. His blue eyes sparkled with amusement and wonderment and something else…

"Since when could you play? The last time, from which I could recall, you could only play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

She laughed, "I know…But I decided to learn."

She went to put her hands on the keys again.

"What's your favorite piece to play?" he whispered gently in her ear.

She shivered a little and smiled at the same time. She put her hands in position and began to play Listen to your Heart. He laughed a small laugh and she stopped playing. "Don't laugh at me," she said shyly as she bent her head down, blushing.

He laughed again, "I'm not laughing at you, Kerry." His voice was gentle and sweet, and sincere, "Go ahead; keep on playing." He urged her as he put his arm around her lower back.

Instead of going back to playing Listen to your Heart, she began to play Ragtime. She could see him smile from the corner of her eye. She stopped after a couple of minutes. "I learned that piece because of you."

She kept her head down so he couldn't see her blush.

He leaned forward to look at her, smiling. "Don't tell me you learned to play the piano because of me?" his voice sounded very much amused.

She laughed at herself a little, shaking her head, but then switched to nodding, "Yes," she whispered, still with her head down. She heard him laugh, "Don't laugh at me!" she demanded as she lifted her head up to look at him, well aware that there just may still be color in her cheeks.

He was smiling, just smiling at her. She didn't see a trace of amusement in his eyes. His eyes were soft and gentle…almost loving. It frightened her a little. "Michel…" she whispered.

He leaned into her, wrapping his arms around her. She wrapped her arms around him, inviting him closer. He pulled his face towards hers so that their noses touched ever so slightly. He cocked his head and moved forward, kissing her gently on the lips.

But as fast as it happened, he was back to sitting up straight, with a slight grin on his face. She looked at him blankly. It felt like all of the sudden, being with him had just hit her. It felt like she was 16 again, waiting for his instruction to go and find Marsala.

"What?" he asked slightly confused.

She snapped out of it, "Oh nothing."

He then gave her a stern, judging looking, "I'm a walking lie detector."

As if that were to mean something to her, which it did; she said with as much posture and dignity as possible, "I don't know what you are talking about."

He snorted, "Just tell me, Kerry."

"Well…You **aren't** allowed to laugh. Got it?"

"Well, what if it is amusing? You can be amusing a lot with what you say and do. Why do you think I let you go?"

That last question startled her. He could tell. He just grinned at her…amused at her. "Well," she spoke softly, trying to look away from him, but he wouldn't allow it. "I…it just felt like it was all just now hitting me…being here, with you…feeling like it was back when I was 16 again…that one night together. Our last night." she was blushing. She could tell. Her cheeks burned, but he put his hand on her cheek, cooling her cheek off completely.

He smiled at her; he didn't do his grin, he was smiling. That was a big difference for him to just smile instead of grin. He slipped his hand away, turning away from her. "You know," he began in an amused tone now, placing his hands on the keys and began to play something softly, "I followed you for a while. Did you ever get the feeling that someone was there…watching you?" he asked, looking at her again.

He picked his hands from the keys to look at her expression. She gawked at him, "There was no way that was you," she whispered. She made contact with his eyes, "It was you," she said with certainty.

He lifted his hands up in the air, while grinning, "That was me."

She looked at him shocked. He stopped grinning and continued, "I actually was going to wait till you graduated. I was still debating beforehand if I should come and see you to ask if you had changed your mind."

She felt her mouth hanging open. She found her voice that turned out to only be a squeak, "How come you never came?"

"Well, think about it: I watched you for the rest of your sophomore year and then your junior year and then some of your senior year. I was meaning to stick around till you graduated, but then this stupid war started in close to the middle of your senior year." He watched her carefully and curiously as he spoke. He then raised his hands in front of him, shrugging, "Then I had to leave." His hands dropped, "But I didn't have to go far."

"So, you were there all along?" she whispered in disbelief.

He nodded.

"Wait…if I knew what you were…wouldn't that mean I'd be in your…system?" she asked unsure, not even sure if she knew what she was talking about.

He stared at her for a moment with his piercing blue eyes. "No." he stated simply and sternly. "I never told anyone about you. And I certainly wasn't about to put you in the system. You put yourself in the system, if you ever wonder why every vampire or guardian you run into calls you a 'vampire hunter'."

She looked down, away from him, understanding certain things for the first time. She looked back at him again, "What is the system?" she asked curiously.

He laughed a little out of her curiosity, but he fell silent. "The system is almost like the police system. It's generated and sorted out by a computer. It gives a heading, sorted into categories."

"Like…" she pushed.

"Like the heading 'Vampire Hunter,' 'Former Hunter,' 'Blood Whore,' and even our own kind."

She shuttered and then asked, "How can someone be a former hunter? How does it work…also…what's a blood whore?" she squeaked out at the last question.

He sighed, thinking, "Sometimes, some hunters get the feeling…or…they want to stop what they are doing. They know that they will be hunted down. So, they find a vampire or even a guardian, depending on their knowledge, to tell them this. Whoever they tell will look them up in the system to see what they have done, how many vampires he or she has killed alone or in a group, because we **always** know what group or hunter it was based on their scent. Whoever the hunter consulted with, talks to an even stronger, one with more authority, vampire or guardian. Usually it's a guardian. They decide. In either case, they take the hunters blood and keep tabs on the hunter for a certain amount of time, making them former vampire hunters."

"Do I have to go through all that," she panicked, her eyes widening.

"Well, technically, you have, with me. You've already claimed that really weren't even a hunter and I took your blood. I've kept tabs on you…"

She began to calm down.

"In the system, you will be in two different categories. You will be a Former Hunter and an Untouchable."

"What's an Untouchable?"

"An Untouchable is another vampire or even guardian's property. No vampire or guardian should take your blood without my consent first. Which, I might add, they will never get from me. I am the only one who can take your blood."

Her heart beat picked up when he finished, and she was unsure what to say to that.

"You okay?" he asked sincerely, putting his hand against her cheek.

"Yeah. I'm fine," she said, trying to get her heart to calm down. Then she asked with a little bit of uncertainty, "What's a…What's a Blood Whore?"

"A Blood Whore, in the name of it, pretty much speaks for itself. They'll stay human, but let any vampire or guardian willingly feed from them. It could even, and most likely include sex. Sort of like fuck an suck."

"Oh," her voice quivered.

It was silent for a moment. Michel soon got up and disappeared. A moment later, he came back holding a laptop. He sat down on the couch. He soon waved her over and she sat down next to him. She looked at his screen. "This is the system," he said.

Kerry scanned the screen. It was a website. It was most likely a high secure website. Michel went and killed a heading which immediately asked for a password. Kerry looked away slightly as he typed it in. She looked back to see words appearing on the screen. He clicked the search box and typed in her full name. It came up as 'VAMPIRE HUNTER.' Kerry shuttered at the title. Under the heading was information on her and also her recent locations she had been to. "It's like you all are spying on me." Kerry said in disbelief.

"We like to be very thorough. But you shouldn't worry," Michel said lightly, "We're about to make you a Former Hunter and an Untouchable."

She exhaled, realizing she was holding her breath.

"Have you ever killed a vampire or guardian, Kerry?" he made the question as if he were asking her favorite color.

She gasped, unexpected. He didn't comment; only waited for a response. "No! of course not!" she stuttered.

"Good," Michel said as he typed something.

Without warning, Michel turned and leaned towards her neck. She stiffened. "Relax, Ker. I honestly need to. You won't die. Promise."

She took in a deep breath and tried to relax. He put his lips on her throat, while his hand supported her neck. She jerked back though instinctively.

"Sorry," she muttered, but then made her voice clear, "I can't let you do it. Not like that…"

He studied her with his blue eyes and then sighed, in defeat. He set the laptop down on the coffee table and turned his body towards her. He stroked her cheek, studying her with his blue eyes. She tried to relax.

_I've done this before, so why panic? _

He soon leaned towards her neck again, putting his hand on her neck for support. She tried to jerk back again, but he wouldn't let her. She panicked as her heart raced. She felt tears coming. "Michel," she half sobbed.

He jerked back immediately when she said his name the way she did, as if…afraid. His blue eyes were concerned, startled, and confused. He moved his hand from her neck to her cheek, wiping away some of the tears. He studied her hard. "Kerry…" he said softly.

"I'm sorry," she said as she calmed herself, "I was afraid…"

"Of…" Michel pushed, worried.

She sighed, "That it would hurt."

He then sighed too. "I get it," he told her softly.

"I'm sorry…" she said again.

Michel had pulled back and left a space in between. But, she didn't like that space between them. She leaned towards him, resting her head on his chest and hugged him. He hesitantly hugged her back, resting his chin on the top of her head, almost rocking her back and forth.

"I have to sooner or later," he informed her gently after a few minutes of silence.

"I know," she said simply.

She got a feeling that he slightly grinned as he began to rub her back. He kissed the side of her head, pausing for a moment and then released her, pulling away from her. "Ah, he's awake," Michel mumbled as he locked his laptop, closing it. "Looks like the system is going to have to wait," Michel said, as he stood up from the couch without effort.

She stood up as well. He was looking towards the stairs, so she looked too.

A man walked down the stairs, his blonde hair messy. He glanced at her, "Who's with you?"

"Her name is Kerry." Michel said. "I was wondering when you were going to wake up."

"Well, I gotta sleep sometime." He replied back. He walked in front of her, "Pleased to meet you, Kerry."

Kerry was about to respond, but Michel jumped in first. "Save the act, Reid." Michel said lightly. "As if a guardian would be_ pleased_," Michel strained that word, "to meet a supposed hunter."

She didn't look at Michel now, but at the guardian.

"This is one of my roommates, Kerry. His name is Reid." He then grinned, looking at her, "He protects me and Ted during the day as if we can't take care of ourselves."

"I wouldn't blame him," she spoke up with more dignity than she thought she had. "I would die if anything happened to you."

He laughed at her and grinned, "As if I wouldn't want you to die, Kerry." He said to her slyly.

"Apparently you don't. I've already asked. You told me to wait." she muttered back.

He just grinned at her. He then turned back to Reid who was confused, "We were just now working on changing her status in the system."

"To what? A Former?" he questioned.

"Well that and," Michel hesitated on telling him, but said it anyways, "…an Untouchable."

"Why?" he asked shocked.

"She's mine," Michel said sternly. "She's been mine for a while."

"How long is a while?" Reid asked seriously, crossing his arms over his chest.

Michel had a debate on telling Reid for a while since Kerry had come back, and so now he was letting it slip from his mouth, "For three years she's been mine, whether she was in the system or not."

Reid looked at Michel sternly, "And, what's that supposed to mean?"

Michel growled, "I didn't put her in the system at first. She put herself in the system with an idiotic act to find me."

Reid relaxed for a moment and grinned at her amusingly, "Don't tell me you joined just to find a vampire, and I don't mean in ways to kill that vampire."

She just nodded, "I was looking for Michel."

"And she even knows your real name!" Reid exclaimed sarcastically, letting his arms wave freely, "Are you trying to kill us or expose us?"

"No," Michel said sternly, "She's been through a lot in the past, what, five nights?" he looked at her, as if asking her.

She thought for a moment, "Yeah, I've wasted 4 daylights with you and 4 ½ nights with you. Tonight is the 5th."

Michel nodded in agreement, "The group along with several of your guardians already know of her and know not to touch her."

Reid finally nodded in defeat.

"Now," Michel began cheerfully, "if you don't mind, I have to go and change Kerry's status and fill out information." Michel said. He then turned towards her, "Kerry? You ready to do what I need to do?"

She caught on immediately to what he meant. He held his hand out and she took it. He pulled her forward, away from Reid and out of the room and into a hall. She leaned against a wall as Michel stroked her cheek. Her heart was slightly pounding, but she was definitely more relaxed this time. "I promise you that it won't hurt. I won't hurt you."

She just nodded.

"I'm sorry that I have to do this now when you obviously would rather me back off."

"No," she whispered looking at him, "It's alright. You've done it before."

He nodded and leaned towards her, only it was towards her face rather than her neck. He began to kiss her and she kissed him back. His hand lay on her throat motionless as he kissed her all over. It was like a simple reminder of why he was doing this. She forced the thought out of her mind though. He was doing this because she was worried and afraid of how last time went. He was trying to distract her, and it was working. She let herself get lost in his sweet kisses.

A few minutes later, he moved towards her neck and kissed it. Without hesitation, knowing on his part that would make him expected to do so then, he pierced into her. She gasped and grabbed his arm. The slight pain though went away. He moved his hand so he was stroking her side and then up her arm.

Michel then pulled back, not doing it nearly as long as usual. He then kissed her on the side of her cheek. Her heart was racing. Michel embraced her, waiting patiently for when she wanted to move.

_"Whenever you're ready…" _Michel said in her mind patiently.

_"In a…In a minute," _even in her own thoughts she was breathless.

_"Mmm…" _he said lowly as he pulled her closer,_ "You smell nice. I could get high off your scent." _

She felt like she was blushing now. She knew she was.

"_How do I respond to that? Is it good or is it bad? Most likely good. Flattering, but scary. The way he was looking at me earlier, the one look I have __**never**__ seen in his eyes…What was it?" _She wasn't asking him directly. In fact, these were her personal thoughts she didn't want him hearing.

"It was love, Kerry" Michel whispered in her ear, his cool breath made her tingle. "I love you."

**Can Michel love Kerry? **

**Is he capable of love?**

**Aren't you so damn happy I finally updated? **

**Review and love me :-)**

**OH! Before I forget. I have a oneshot called Midnight's Walk that I'll be putting on here. It goes along with this basically. What would have happened if Kerry's family was okay and if the war never happened. So look for that as well. K? **

© Copyright Nicole Pierce


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